There are only 144 roster spots in the WNBA, which makes it an elite club. And the All-Star Game, with 24 spots, is the elite of the elite. It’s an honor to just be considered for participation. Here are five players who could make a valid case for appearing in this year’s game in Phoenix

Marina Mabrey (Chicago Sky)

Marina Mabrey is one of the best long-distance shooters in the WNBA. Last season was the best of her career, at least statistically, but she really shined in the EuroLeague, where she took ÇBK Mersin to the Final Four as the team’s primary playmaker. She averaged 17.5 points and 5.3 assists in Europe’s top competition, and was the main reason the Turkish team played so well. This season for the Chicago Sky, she’s shooting less, but she’s averaging career highs in rebounds (5.0) and assists (4.3) per game, proving she’s willing to do whatever it takes for the Sky to win. Yes, the All-Star Game is about individual stars, but athletes who sacrifice their individualism should also be rewarded for their efforts. And Mabrey is at the top of that list.

Skylar Diggins-Smith (Seattle Storm)

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Ain’t nothing like momma’s cooking, and this mom is back from her second maternity leave to dish out some fine cuisine. Skylar Diggins-Smith’s 6.3 assists per game this season is her career high, and considering she has made the All-Star team six times in her career, that’s no small achievement. In her first season with the Seattle Storm, Diggins-Smith is running one of the best teams in the league, despite the team’s main stars playing with each other for the first time. She’s a proven veteran leader and—without a doubt—could hold her own against Team USA in Phoenix.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (New York Liberty)

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

After already making the case for another All-Star snub, the Connecticut Sun’s DiJonai Carrington, back when she still had a chance of making the team, similar arguments can be used when talking about Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. Like Carrington, the New York Liberty forward is an elite defender. Unlike Carrington, she already has one All-Star appearance under her belt and has made the All-Defensive Team twice. Considering her past achievements, maybe the bar was higher for her? Maybe defense isn’t marketable? But, if you’re Team USA and preparing for the Olympics, don’t you want to face top defenders? Or, maybe Laney-Hamilton was overshadowed by the other three Liberty players—Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones—who we’ll see in Phoenix? The fact of the matter is, Laney-Hamilton is averaging 12.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game on the best team in the league, all while serving as the team’s top defender. She deserves an All-Star spot.

Alanna Smith (Minnesota Lynx)

Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

Prior to the season, one would expect Dorka Juhász to be in this spot as the player to make the leap and become the third option on the Minnesota Lynx; however, Alanna Smith’s play simply has been too good to ignore. She’s the one who allows Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride to shine on offense by setting screens, providing second-chance points and, more importantly, stretching the floor. She’s converting 46 percent of her 3s, averaging 11.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game. The Commissioner’s Cup winners wouldn’t be where they are today without Smith and the Australian big deserved a ticket to Phoenix.

Ezi Magbegor (Seattle Storm)

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Ezi Magbegor is the third elite defender on this list. Her averages of 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.6 steals per game are all career highs. She’s also scoring 13.4 points and dishing out 2.6 assists per game. Last year, lesser numbers were enough for her to make her first All-Star team while playing on a bad Seattle Storm team. Now, with Seattle back in the championship picture, one would think that she’d be a surefire coaches’ pick. Hopefully, she won’t be deterred by the snub and will continue to make her case for Defensive Player of the Year.

A new documentary series, new jerseys and more from around the world of women’s basketball:

WNBA debuts “Year 1” docuseries

On Wednesday, the WNBA announced Year 1, an original docuseries that will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the experiences of four rookies: Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso of the Chicago Sky, Rickea Jackson of the Los Angeles Sparks and Nika Mühl of the Seattle Storm.

Catch the first episode now in the WNBA App or on the WNBA’s YouTube channel.

A’ja, Nike introduce Team USA jerseys

On Wednesday, Nike officially introduced Team USA’s jerseys for the 2024 Olympics, with A’ja Wilson serving as the face of USA Basketball’s Women’s National Team.

Get your 2024 WNBA All-Star jersey!

On Tuesday, Jordan Brand introduced the WNBA All-Star jerseys. According to Boardroom, the jerseys seek “to celebrate the energy and future of the league through a more vibrant and lively gradient fading design.”

During the first half of the All-Star Game on July 20 in Phoenix, Team WNBA is expected to wear the orange and pink uniforms before switching to the black uniforms after halftime. Team USA will wear their white USA Basketball uniforms. The All-Star jerseys go on sale on July 8 at WNBAstore.com and Nike.com.

Tip to take the 3×3 court in Paris

Tiffany Hayes will suit up for Azerbaijan’s 3×3 team at the 2024 Olympic Games. Hayes attained Azerbaijani citizenship in 2015, competing in the 3×3 event at the 2015 European Games. She is the fourth member of the Las Vegas Aces who will be heading to Paris, as A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum will represent Team USA.

Checking in with next gen

With the current queens of the sport heading toward the All-Star and Olympic breaks, it’s an opportunity to get to know the next generation women’s basketball royalty. ESPN HoopGurlz/Premier Basketball has the details on the top five uncommitted players from the class of 2025.

• Aaliyah Chavez (Lubbock, TX): The No. 1 overall player in the class of 2025, the 5-foot-11 point guard is deciding between 10 schools: Texas Tech, USC, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio State, LSU, UCLA, Texas and Tennessee.
• Jasmine “Jazzy” Davidson (Clackamas, OR): A 6-foot-1 guard who is the No. 3 overall player in the class of 2025, she is looking at USC, UCLA, Duke, UConn, TCU and Texas.
• Aaliyah Crump (Minnetonka, MN): A 6-foot-1 guard and the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2025, she has narrowed her list of schools to Ohio State, Duke and Texas.
• Divine Bourrage (Davenport, IA): A 5-foot-10 guard who is the No. 5 overall player in the class of 2025, she plans to visit Arizona, Illinois, South Carolina, LSU, Virginia Tech and Baylor.
• Agot Makeer (Ontario, Canada): The 6-foot-1 wing is the No. 6 overall player in the class of 2025 and is considering Michigan State, UCLA, UConn, North Carolina, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Michigan, Duke, Kentucky, Virginia Tech, Louisville and Vanderbilt.

The Los Angeles Sparks quelled a rally by the Las Vegas Aces to close out a 98-93 overtime win Friday, and snap a franchise-tying record eight-game losing streak.

Dearica Hamby lead the charge against her former team, with 28 points and 14 rebounds, while Aari McDonald put up a career-high 23 points for the Sparks’ first win since June 9, when they beat the Aces.

“I’m super-proud of this group tonight,” coach Curt Miller said. “They just played with a toughness and grittiness from start to finish.”

The matchup, which featured 15 ties and 17 lead changes, began with a 7-0 Las Vegas run. Los Angeles answered with their own 7-0 run, and trailed by just 3 points to end the quarter. In the second frame, the visitors got into foul trouble, and the Sparks limited Aces star A’ja Wilson to just 2 points, while ending the period on a 9-0 run to take a 10-point advantage into the break.

The hosts picked up where they left off in the third, running up a 15-point lead. But Las Vegas got hot in the fourth, using a 7-0 run to take a 75-74 lead with 5:44 remaining. A Wilson bucket put her team up 84-82, but Los Angeles forward Stephanie Talbot’s shot, with 3 seconds to go, tied the game and forced overtime.

Talbot assisted Hamby twice, to keep the Sparks ahead, 95-90 with 24 seconds to go, but a Jackie Young trey closed the gap. Free throws by McDonald and Clarendon helped Los Angeles to put the game to bed.

Wilson lead the Aces with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks, while Kelsey Plum had 21 points and Young, 17.

Both coach Becky Hammon and Wilson said Las Vegas’ lack of attack mentality was their main issue in the loss.

“It’s the try hard factor – they came out and wanted it more than us, essentially, and we didn’t get the job done,” Wilson said. “(Teams) want to come out and kick our (behinds)….it is what it is. We’ve got to come out the first five minutes and own it, because we’re always going to get a team’s best.”

Hammon said the second quarter was the momentum-killer for her team, as they showed poor defensive effort. In subbing out all five starters to begin the third period, Hammon said she was trying to send a message. But Las Vegas’ effort was still what she called “lackadaisical.”

“We were just soft, non-competitive,” she said.

Both teams play again Sunday, with the Sparks hosting the Mercury and the Aces hosting the Wings.

The Indiana Fever (8-13) aren’t necessarily on fire, but they’re becoming better and it’s a pleasure to watch a team that was making preventable mistakes now move the ball and score effectively. The defense still needs improvement, but the effort is finally there. Just look at the energy inside of the Fever locker room after the win over the Phoenix Mercury:

All-Stars abound

Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have made the 2024 WNBA All-Star team. You’d think that a team with three All-Stars would be at the top of the league or somewhere around it. The Fever, however, are at the ninth spot in the standings, with eight wins and 13 losses. After a rough start to the season, the Fever are playing much better. All-Star snubs aside, Indiana will have more players take the court in Phoenix than the Seattle Storm (13-6) and the same number as the New York Liberty (17-3), Connecticut Sun (16-4) and Mercury (10-10). Were the choices unjustified or unreasonable?

Clark is one the most marketable WNBA players ever, a ratings mover and somebody who gets fans into arenas. And beyond that, she’s an incredible player who completely validates the hype. Per Fever’s press release, we’ll let her stats speak for themselves:

Clark earned her first WNBA All-Star selection after averaging 16.2 points, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 34.2 minutes per contest and has started in all 20 games this season. The 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick leads all rookies in points per game, assists per game, minutes per game, field goals made, 3-point field goals made and is third in the WNBA in assists per game. Clark won WNBA Rookie of the Month in May and already owns the franchise rookie-record for most assists in a debut season. In Clark’s 19th career game, she became the fastest player in WNBA history to record at least 300 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists.

Aliyah Boston? She was the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of June 10 to 16 and is one of the best bigs in the league. After blocking out the outside noise by temporarily quitting social media, she vastly improved her play and, more importantly, increased her intensity.

And then there’s Kelsey Mitchell…

Mitchell’s milestone

During the July 2 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, Mitchell made her 500th 3-pointer of her WNBA career. At age 28, the shooting guard joined the elite group of 18 pro ballers who’ve drained at least 500 3s in the W. This year, she’ll definitely move up to 17th on the all-time list, as it will take just 11 3s to take over Leilani Mitchell’s and Allie Quigley’s spots. Reaching Maya Moore’s 530, Renee Montgomery’s 532 and Ivory Latta’s 536 also is a possibility, which would mean Mitchell could finish the season 14th on the all-time list. At age 28, that’s quite an achievement, even for a player who was selected No. 2 overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft.

With her second All-Star appearance in a row, Mitchell is steadily building a Hall of Fame resume. Statistically, she has taken a slight step back, averaging two points fewer per game with reduced passing. But, she’s playing next to a world-class point guard in Clark, which has helped her score more efficiently than last season. For the second time in her career, she is making over 40 percent of her long-distance shots. Having her play next to Clark creates defensive issues for the Fever and puts a heavier burden on Kristy Wallace on that end, but they should be fine when they can outscore the opposing backcourt.

What’s next for the Fever?

We’ll see how far Indiana’s All-Stars can take them during the three-game homestand that begins this weekend and continues into next week. On Saturday, July 6, they host the Liberty (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Next Wednesday, July 10, the Washington Mystics come to town (12 p.m. ET, League Pass). Then, the Mercury visit on Friday, July 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, ION).

The gutsy win over the Mercury this week proved that the Fever are growing up and jelling. The loss against the Aces was predictable, if not inevitable, so let’s hope that Fever will get back on track during their next contests.