The WNBA All-Star Game is finally here, and Saturday’s event, as usual, features the WNBA’s best and brightest. But this year, with the Olympics kicking off next week, USA Basketball Women’s Olympic Team will take on the WNBA All-Stars in preparation for the Paris Games. Here’s how the teams stack up:
Follow along with Yahoo Sports’ Cassandra Negley for live updates and highlights as WNBA All-Star weekend continues on Saturday.
Live30 updates
Halftime!
Enjoy it like Sophie Cunningham!
HALFTIME : Team USA 54, Team WNBA 52
Team USA is led by A’ja Wilson (13p/4r/2a/2s, 5-7 overall with a 3) and Breanna Stewart (14p/5r/1a, 5-8 overall, 1-4 3FG). They are the new leading generation of the team. Taurasi has eight points shooting 3-5.
It’s Allisha Gray’s weekend, though. She leads Team WNBA with 12 points, but shooting 2-6. Clark has six assists and Reese has seven rebounds. The rooks doing their thing.
Neither team is shooting well from deep. The team that can start doing that should pull away in this one.
Team WNBA sets up for a deep Caitlin Clark 3 to end the half. Brionna Jones cleans up the miss and Team USA leads, 54-52, at the half.
Aliyah Boston over A’ja Wilson must make the South Carolina fans confused. And then Clark pulls up to attempt a 3, but decides against it. She appears to smile and mutter a, um, four-letter word.
The record for assists in an All-Star game (any format) is 11 set by Sue Bird in 2017 when it was Western vs. Eastern, according to Across the Timeline data. Bird (2009), Layshia Clarendon (2017) and Chelsea Gray (2019) have each notched 10.
Clark is at five with 2:16 until the half.
Clark has played 10:41, the most of any Team WNBA player, and has four assists. If you want to win — and everyone on Team WNBA has indicated this weekend they do — you keep Clark in so the ball keeps moving smoothly.
A’ja Wilson looks surprised her former South Carolina teammate and bestie Allisha Gray fell over on that foul and makes a little flop move afterward. From biggest cheerleader to hardest foe in 24 hours.
Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Ty Dolla $iGN, Sheryl Swoopes, Paige Bueckers among the highlighted attendees so far. Shannon Sharpe is also here sitting near the media side.
Napheesa Collier subs in, which is huge since she missed considerable time with the Minnesota Lynx recently due to injury. She came off the bench last Olympics and is expected to be a huge factor in Paris for USA.
oh my goodness, Team USA pulling out the full court press. They score off a steal doing it.
Caitlin to Aliyah connection to start the second quarter. Then she finds Jones on the next possession. Quickly up to three assists.
And the “next generation of WNBA All-Stars” are here as part of the WNBA and NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.
1Q: Team WNBA 24, Team USA 23
The loudest in-game cheers are for Angel Reese coming in for that offensive rebound and waiting for it to drain through. It gives Team WNBA the slim lead.
Angel Reese with her first All-Star minutes here late in the first quarter. And pretty quickly Kelsey Mitchell and Kelsey Plum tangle up on the perimeter. Mitchell looked perturbed. Plum smiled it off. Mitchell scores off the inbound play.
WBL legends honored here at All-Star. It is so refreshing to see the league and women’s basketball as a whole lean into its history this weekend, particularly with so many fans new to the game (hi!). If you want to learn a little more about some of them, including Galloway McQuitter and Adrian Mitchell Newell, I highlighted the importance of remembering women’s sports history.
All-Star vets Ogwumike and Bonner coming up big early for Team WNBA. First subs come at 5:37. BG and Wilson are out on the floor together for Team USA against Hamby and Ogwumike. Hamby said earlier they would probably “be smart about this,” indicating she would not receive a lot of playing time. She’s on the USA 3×3 team in Paris.
Oh, how fitting. Diana Taurasi drains a 3 to open up the scoring here in the only place she’s every played WNBA ball.
They love everyone here. Pac-12 country coming in hot for Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum. (Sorry to bring it up, everybody). Phoenix stars Kahleah Copper and Brittney Griner pull big cheers, as do the Team USA starters. But no one receives more love than Diana Taurasi. It’s felt like a celebration of the GOAT here this weekend. Really feels like it could be her final Olympics and WNBA All-Star — but we’ve probably said that in prior years, too, haven’t we?
Truly massive cheers for Caitlin Clark, who is the first Team WNBA starter announced. But the noise continues for Arike Ogunbowale, DeWanna Bonner (a two-time Phoenix champ!), Jonquel Jones (the people loved her 3-point performance) and Nneka Ogwumike.
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