The 10 starters for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game are set. And these six players absolutely should be reserves.

The six other reserves? The gals below have shown that they deserve to make the midseason trip to Indianapolis.

Kayla Thornton, forward, Golden State Valkyries

The Valkyries don’t have a star? Kayla Thornton, just like the rest of the gang in Golden State, is proving prognostications wrong.

Thornton has not just brought championship-winning experience to the Bay; she’s also offered All-Star level play. She’s showing she’s more than just a heart, hustle and dirty work kind of player (although she still does all that), but also a productive, two-way force capable of captaining her team to wins. Thornton’s 15 points per game clears her previous career high, achieved in 2019, by almost five points. Her nearly seven boards and 1.6 steals per game also are career bests.

Gabby Williams, forward, Seattle Storm

Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Edwin Garcia already went deep on Williams’ excellent season. Her first All-Star selection should be signed, sealed and delivered.

Even though Williams’ unsustainably efficient shooting has tailed off, she’s still posting a career-high 13.3 points per game, which she achieves as a now-credible threat from behind the arc, with nearly two made 3s per game, and as a terror in transition, where she’s an automatic two points. Then, there’s the other side of the ball. Already one of the best defenders in the W, she’s even better this season, swiping a league-leading 2.6 steals per game.

Brionna Jones, forward, Atlanta Dream

Photo by Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images

Jones is Atlanta’s surefire second All-Star. There’s little style or sizzle to her game. Just a ton of substance.

A traditional big, Jones still has established her niche in Dream head coach Karl Smesko’s modernized offensive system, even through her experimentation behind the arc has not been reliably realized. Instead, she’s doing what she did during her eight seasons with the Connecticut Sun—just better. Breezy is an efficient low-post scorer, who also takes care of the glass. She’s pulling down over eight rebounds per game, including a career-high 3.3 offensive boards, the second-best mark in the league.

Rhyne Howard, guard, Atlanta Dream

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However, the Dream are deserving of three All-Stars, as Howard is having the best season of a career that already has earned her a pair of All-Star selections.

The scoring efficiency is not great, but the all-round impact is. That’s because she’s complemented her scoring production with enhanced playmaking, dishing a career-high 4.7 assists per game. That playmaking extends to the defensive end, where she’s tallying 1.6 steals and almost a block per game. Her effort on the boards is resulting in a career-best 5.2 rebounds per game. Atlanta asks a lot of Howard, and she delivers. As long as her current shoulder injury does not linger, she should be in Indy.

Angel Reese, forward, Chicago Sky

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The seemingly infectious instinct to critique what Reese can’t do (or can’t do well enough according to the absurdly high expectations levied on her) risks clouding all she can do, and does do, for the Sky.

Based on the famous saying, “No rebounds, no rings,” Reese is bejeweled, a generational rebounder who is obliterating the league’s boarding records. She ends and extends possessions with her work on the glass, a necessary feature for a Sky team that struggles on both ends of the floor. She’s the league’s rebounding leader, and the only player averaging a double-double. She has 10 of them on the season, in addition to a triple-double. That’s an All-Star resume.

Jackie Young, guard, Las Vegas Aces

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Yes, A’ja Wilson needs help, and Young is doing her best to provide it. (Although, the Aces’ most recent game, a bad loss to the Indiana Fever, is an untimely example.) While scoring less efficiently than her prior All-Star campaigns, Young is still a reliable source of production, tallying 17.3 points per game. She’s also generating a career-high 4.2 trips to the line per game, while maintaining a defensive playmaking presence with 1.2 steals per contest.

Young’s case might be the shakiest of any potential reserves, but, if she was not being evaluated against the absolutely elite standard she and the Aces previously reached, there would likely be little question about her All-Star worthiness.

Honorable mention: Jonquel Jones, center, New York Liberty

Jones has appeared in just nine games, limited to nine minutes in the ninth contest, a loss to the Phoenix Mercury in which she suffered the ankle injury that has since kept her on the sidelines. However, if Caitlin Clark, who also has played in only nine games, is an All-Star starter, an honor she earned based on fan and media votes, Jones deserves heavy consideration, despite the time she has missed.

Because when she’s played, the Liberty have been unstoppable. Her numbers might not be eye-popping (12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per game), but she makes the Liberty pop. In the eight games in which she played at least 10 minutes, New York is undefeated. In the 206 total minutes she’s been on the floor, the Liberty have outscored opponents by 127 points, sporting an offensive rating of 113.1 and a defensive rating of 83.7. And the Liberty’s struggles without her—with just two wins compared to four losses—might be the best evidence for her All-Star case.

Taking on the vibe of some sort of fame monster (à la the Lady Gaga album), the Caitlin Clark hype machine convinced Vegas sportsbooks to put Clark as the MVP favorite entering this WNBA season despite A’ja Wilson being in her prime and coming off the greatest individual season in league history. Napheesa Collier, also in her prime, finished second in MVP voting last year and was WNBA general managers’ pick to take home the award in 2025.

Clark has played in just nine of 17 Indiana Fever games so far, but, if she returns relatively soon, she should still be in MVP discussions at the end of the season. That doesn’t mean we should just hand her the award. In my last power rankings, shortly after she had an amazing performance in a 14-point win over the New York Liberty, it was conceivable that she would indeed give Collier a run for her money in the MVP race, despite her injury absence. Now, she is dealing with another injury absence and has converted on just one of her last 23 3-point attempts.

So, here is Swish Appeal’s first MVP ladder of the season, with no extra or lesser favor given based on team record, as is my style. I think the MVP should be given to the player with the best individual season. How much they impact winning is given consideration, but simply being on a team with a better record isn’t.

1) Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx, All-Star Captain

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 41.6; Games: 14; FG/3PT/FT: 52.5/37.7/94.7; TOV: 2.4

Collier is widely considered the clear MVP frontrunner, and, while she barely comes out ahead of A’ja Wilson when totaling the five main statistical categories, her historically-strong efficiency catapults her far above Wilson. Before a 1-for-5 effort from 3 Thursday night, she was on pace for the second 50/40/90 season in WNBA history, with the first being accomplished by Elena Delle Donne with the Washington Mystics in 2019. Collier’s 3-point percentage was barely hanging on; it only met the criteria if you rounded up, and now it’s down to 37.7. It’s still very impressive though and impressive for her, as it’s her best since shooting 40.8 percent in the Wubble, and that was on 0.9 makes per game. She’s now making a career-best 1.4 per contest.

2) A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces, All-Star Starter

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 41.2; Games: 14; FG/3PT/FT: 44.3/19/85.7; TOV: 2.7

Photo by David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images

Wilson’s Aces have struggled and may be in for a tough battle down the stretch of the season just to make the playoffs. On the other hand, they still have time to turn things around and make the playoffs easily. I thought Michael Voepel put it well in this tweet:

Wilson “is embracing leading them through it.” This is a player who wants to go down as a top three player in the history of the W. This is an assassin. You’re not going to find someone with more heart. One more MVP and she’ll stand alone with the most all-time. She’s putting up the averages to be in the mix, including career highs in assists and steals. She just has to improve her efficiency if she wants to get anywhere near Phee.

3) Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury, Hopeful All-Star Reserve

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 37.7; Games: 13; FG/3PT/FT: 52.5/0/69.1, TOV: 3.1

Photo by Jeremy Chen/Getty Images

Can AT extend her streak of top five MVP finishes to four seasons in a row? I expected her to finish top three and she is quietly having the third-best season in the W. At times, Clark has seemed destined to own the assists per game title for the next 10 years in a row, and Thomas deserves a lot of credit for currently leading Clark (and everyone) in that category with a career-best 9.4. That’s on pace for the second-highest single-season average in league history behind only Courtney Vandersloot’s 10 for the Chicago Sky in the Wubble. Thomas has two 15-assist games to her credit this season. Meanwhile, her 14.3 points per game is higher than when she finished fifth in MVP voting last year and when she finished fourth in 2022. Once again, people aren’t talking about her enough. Some might even think Satou Sabally has been the best player on the Mercury this year. It’s been Thomas.

4) Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever, All-Star Captain

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 38.9; Games: 9; FG/3PT/FT: 39/29.5/81.6; TOV: 5.9

Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

Clark comes out ahead of Thomas in the main statistical categories added up, but I had to take into consideration that she’s played in four fewer games, has committed 2.8 more turnovers per game and is shooting under 40 percent from the field. I feel like she has a better chance than Thomas of moving up to second or first on this list, though. That’s because she’s certainly capable of averaging far more than 18.2 points per game. I mean, don’t we all expect to see Clark, eventually, be in the mid-20s year in and year out? And I say that seriously; I’m not mocking those who have already crowned her the greatest player to ever play the game. I think her rebounds (five) and assists (8.9) per game will be higher by the end of this season as well. And hopefully her 3-point percentage will rise back to the mid-30s, where it was last year.

5) Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream, All-Star Starter

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 32.4; Games: 18 ; FG/3PT/FT: 45.6/41.5/82.4; TOV: 1.7

Photo by Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images

It’s a close call from No. 5 all the way down to No. 10 on this ladder, in my opinion, and even extending to some honorable mentions after 10. I have Gray leaping over quite a few players who lead her in main stats combined.

The Dream are contending. They’re tied for fourth place at 11-7 and are only 1.5 games out of second place. Gray is driving their success. Rhyne Howard is their next-best player; she’s among the league leaders in main stats combined, but very inefficient. Meanwhile, Gray is shooting a great field goal percentage for a guard, a very good free throw percentage and a phenomenal 3-point percentage. Her 41.5 percent from downtown is 11th in the league, and she has at least seven more makes than every player above her. Plus, she’s taking care of the ball with just 1.7 turnovers per contest.

6) Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings, All-Star Starter

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 34.4; Games: 14; FG/3PT/FT: 47.5/34.8/86.7; TOV: 2.3

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

I was someone who said Bueckers might not be an All-Star this year (not even a reserve), and look how high I have her on this list! Her play in college left me wondering if she could be a superstar at the next level or just a star. Was she going to be explosive enough to jump off the screen against faster and stronger competition?

Well, she has proven to be not only the distributor we expected her to be, but also a high-volume scorer who is eighth in the league with 18.7 points per game. Her already phenomenal field goal percentage rose Thursday night, as did her 3-point percentage. Her better 3-point and free throw clips, as well as her having the same amount of turnovers per game despite being a guard, gave her the edge over the player below.

7) Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty, All-Star Starter

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 35.2; Games: 17; FG/3PT/FT: 50/20.8/82.3; TOV: 2.3

Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images

It’s the same old Stewie in a lot of ways, and perhaps I’m being too hard on her. But the differences are in her career-low 6.5 rebounds per game (1.1 below her previous low) and her glaring career-low 20.8 percent clip from downtown (8.7 below). The latter is with 0.6 makes per game (0.6 below). I didn’t give her the team-success bump; most voters (I’m not one of them this year) will. A lot of Liberty fans are probably going to be mad that she and Sabrina Ionescu did not fare well on this list. Perhaps I should have shown a little more respect for the league’s third-leading scorer (20.5 points per game), who is averaging close to a career high in assists with 3.7. But I’m very impressed with Gray and Bueckers, and that’s nothing against Stewie. In some previous seasons, Stewart, a two-time MVP, was the overwhelming winner when looking at main stats added up. I truly used to believe she was the best player in the world.

8) Skylar Diggins, Seattle Storm, Hopeful All-Star Reserve

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 31.5; Games: 18; FG/3PT/FT: 45.6/42/80; TOV: 2.6

Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Diggins has received MVP votes in four separate seasons; her best finish has been sixth place (2022). At age 34 (she’ll be 35 by the end of the regular season), she’s at it again as the oldest player on this list. You’re not going to find someone with more competitive fire. She had some people, including me, scratching their heads when she said coming into this season that the 2025 Storm were the most talented team she’d ever been a part of. Yet, they have indeed shown flashes of championship potential—they handed Minnesota their only loss with Phee until the Commissioner’s Cup championship game. And all the while, Diggins has been excelling; she’s 10th in the league in scoring with 18.5 points per game and fifth in distributing with 5.9 helpers.

Diggins’ 3-point success has varied considerably over the course of her career and had been below 30 percent in her two most recent seasons (2024 and 2022), so I wasn’t expecting much efficiency from her in that department this year. Yet, here she is shooting 42 percent. That gave her the edge over Kelsey Plum on this list. However, some will argue that Nneka Ogwumike should be Seattle’s representative on here instead.

9) Kelsey Plum, Los Angeles Sparks, Hopeful All-Star Reserve

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 33.5; Games: 17; FG/3PT/FT: 37.3/32.5/90.3; TOV: 3.4

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Plum’s main stat score is bolstered by her 20.1 points per game (fourth in the league), 5.7 assists (seventh) and 1.4 steals (19th). Her endurance should not be overlooked; she leads the league in minutes per game (35.9).

She actually finished third in MVP voting with Wilson (the winner that year) on her team. It’s quite impressive any time teammates can both finish that high. Now that she is the best player in LA, I have her ninth. Her averages are up from that 2022 season in every category except points, which is only 0.1 lower. But her 3-point shooting is a career-low 32.5 percent. In 2022, it was at 42 percent with a career-best 3.1 makes. 32.5 percent isn’t that bad, but it made a difference when I was splitting hairs on this list.

Overall, I think the Sparks have to be happy with what KP has provided. The team is struggling, but Plum is the Batman we expected her to be—and there was never really any doubt that she would be considering she’s a former top three MVP finisher. I’m sure she’s more concerned with getting more wins than climbing up this list.

10) Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever, All-Star Starter

Five main stats combined (assists count x1.5): 31.5; Games: 17; FG/3PT/FT: 60.3/25/74.5, TOV: 1.5

Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

Boston is averaging 3.5 assists per game—impressive for a center. She’s also sixth in the league with 8.1 boards per game and tied for eighth with 1.2 blocks to go along with her 16.2 points (17th). The main reason she made this ladder is because of her comfortable league lead in field goal percentage (60.3 percent, 4.2 ahead of second-place Kamilla Cardoso of the Sky).

Boston received the Clark bump in All-Star voting, finishing second in the fan vote for frontcourt players, when really she should have finished lower. But give her credit for the season she is having. At times, she has played like a superstar, not just a star, and it’s only her third season. Don’t look now, but how about the Fever being the only team to get two players on this list? Maybe Clark-Boston is already the best duo in the league?

The 2025 WNBA All-Star starters have been announced, but we still have to fill out the rest of the two rosters that will be selected by captains Napheesa Collier and Caitlin Clark.

While fans, players, and the media voted for the starters, it’s the 13 WNBA head coaches who will decide the bench players. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players, but they will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position, regardless of conference affiliation.

Here are six players who were left out of the starting lineup but are deserving of an All-Star spot.

Skylar Diggins, guard, Seattle Storm

Diggins should already be on the team. She is averaging 18.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. Thanks to her stellar play, the Storm have been one of the better teams in the WNBA.

Diggings’ season-high this year came against her former team, the Phoenix Mercury, on June 7, when she scored 26 points as the Storm won, 89-77.

Alyssa Thomas, forward, Phoenix Mercury

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Thomas has had an MVP-caliber year for the Mercury. She joined Phoenix in the offseason and is averaging 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 9.4 assists per game.

Her game is so versatile—she’s a true all-around player. Thomas’ plus-minus is off the charts. The Mercury are +81 when she is on the court this season. Only Satou Sabally has a better number at +114, and she’s already a WNBA All-Star. Thomas should be joining her.

Kelsey Plum, guard, Los Angeles Sparks

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Plum is the bona fide star for the Sparks. She’s doing everything she can to change the culture in Los Angeles. Plum is averaging 20.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. She is the team leader in points, assists and minutes played.

The Sparks haven’t found much success, but Plum has been a bright spot and deserves to play in Indianapolis.

Kelsey Mitchell, guard, Indiana Fever

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Should the Fever have three players in the All-Star Game? Sure, why not! Mitchell has been one of the best guards in the WNBA. With her stepping up, Indiana has been able to continue winning game, despite Caitlin Clark’s absence.

Mitchell is averaging 19.3 points per game and has played in every single game for the Fever.

Dearica Hamby, forward, Los Angeles Sparks

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Plum’s arrival has not slowed Hamby down in the slightest. She has found a way to fit in and stand out even with a new ball-dominant player joining the team.

Hamby is averaging 16.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and two steals per game. Those numbers are very close to her stats last year when she earned her third All-Star appearance. Considering her play in 2025, she should earn a fourth one.

Brittney Sykes, guard, Washington Mystics

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Sykes has been a solid WNBA player her entire career. She has made a living as a great defender and consummate professional everywhere she goes. This season, her offensive game has exploded. She’s scoring 18.6 points per game, dishing out 4.8 assists, and shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. These are all career-high marks.

Her defense is as strong as ever, averaging 1.1 steals per game. It’s been a long journey, but Sykes is leading the rebuild in Washington, and the nine-year vet deserves to make her All-Star debut this year.

The starters for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game have been announced, and Paige Bueckers made the cut. She will be representing the Dallas Wings in Indianapolis on July 19.

Bueckers is averaging 18.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. She is leading all rookies in scoring, rebounding and steals. Bueckers is the only rookie selected as a starter this year.

She is now one of the 10 rookies in the history of the WNBA to be named an All-Star starter. The other players are Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, Shoni Schimmel, Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark.

The Wings shared the call that general manager Curt Miller had with Paige, where he told her she had been named an All-Star starter and we got a calm celebration from the former UConn star.

At the following practice, Bueckers was asked about the moment and how she felt when she found out she made the All-Star starting lineup as a rookie. She shared:

I was just in a state of gratitude. I wasn’t going to scream and jump up and down, but I was very grateful. So the reaction might not have depicted that. But really I think individual awards are really team accomplishments. So to be able to share that with the people here, and even the people at UConn this past year, just everybody along the way that’s been a part of my journey to help me get to this point, I’m just really grateful for it.

Bueckers has consistently made progress during her rookie campaign. Her first standout performance was a 21-point game against the Connecticut Sun in Dallas’ first win of the year. She followed that up with a career-high 35 points against the Mercury in mid-June.

With her establishing herself as a leader, scorer and pesky defender, Paige’s play warranted the All-Star nod.

With a 5-13 record, the wins haven’t come for the Wings. Instead, the positivity and promise come from the process. Paige has more than demonstrated that she is the future, and Dallas has its best years ahead of them as long as she is in a Wings uniform.

A shot one minute into the Sun’s last game—a 102-63 whooping by the championship-hopeful Lynx—says it all about the season that the team from Connecticut is having.

Minnesota’s Courtney Williams fired a 3 from the top of the key and the ball hit the back of the rim, bounced to the top of the backboard and bounced back right into the basket. The Sun players looked on helplessly. This is more than bad luck. This is fate playing with you in the cruelest of ways.

The Sun, though, invite the damage, as it’s primarily self-inflicted.

The team is dead last in offensive and defensive rating. And if they were just making mistakes while trying to figure stuff out, all while being somewhat entertaining, that would be great.

But the Sun are mostly bland and boring. Second to last in pace. Second to last in free throw attempts. Last in rebounds. It’s like they’re not even trying. Lack of effort is the cardinal sin a team can commit and the 2-15 Sun seem to be really intent on repeating it again and again. But maybe, just maybe, we can find some positives in their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad season.

Jacy, ONO show progress and promise

Jacy Sheldon and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are both 24 years old and talented. On a team in the Sun’s situation, they get a chance to work on their abilities in a (somewhat) competitive environment. Sheldon recently caused an uproar among WNBA casuals, as she got into it with Caitlin Clark during the Sun’s June 17 loss to the Indiana Fever. Both players were pushing and showing, but it was Sheldon who got criticized for her intense play. The overblown incident overshadowed the season she’s been having, steadily improving after a rookie campaign with the Dallas Wings.

Nelson-Ododa is profiting from playing next to Tina Charles, who she often takes a backseat to, which is understandable, at least for now. Soon, she should be expected to do more. Sheldon, in contrast, doesn’t have a veteran teacher like Charles, considering that the Sun decided to part ways with experienced international point guard Yvonne Anderson, who never shies away from being the team leader. So, it’s quite possible that Sheldon is the better player for now, but Nelson-Ododa, due to the lessons she’s learning, could have the brighter future.

The rooks are alright

The Sun picked back-to-back rookies in the 2025 WNBA Draft, with Aneesah Morrow selected No. 7 overall and Saniya Rivers at No. 8.

While they’re averaging similar numbers, Rivers is the starter, getting to play twice as many minutes as Morrow. More minutes for Morrow would mean less minutes for Charles though, and her veteran presence remains necessary for such a young team. Nevertheless, in the limited minutes that she’s getting, Morrow is proving that she’s WNBA-ready, primarily with her rebounding (11.3 per 36 minutes). As the season progresses, she should get more playing time.