The
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...
(WNBA)
All-Star Game
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...
is an annual exhibition
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
game played between the
Eastern Conference and the
Western Conference All-Stars. Eleven players, five
starters and six
reserves, from each conference are chosen. The starters are chosen through electronic ballots cast daily by fans on WNBA.com. The leading vote recipients at each position start the game. The reserves are chosen by voting among the league's
head coaches
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. Through the 2013 game, coaches could select two guards, two forwards, one center and two players regardless of positions. Starting with the 2014 game, the forward and center positions were folded into a single frontcourt category; coaches can now vote for two guards, three frontcourt players, and one player regardless of position. If a player is unable to participate due to injury or illness, a replacement will be selected.
![WNBA Sue Bird cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/WNBA_Sue_Bird_cropped.jpg)
In five seasons, there was no All-Star Game:
* In 2004,
The Game at Radio City
The Game at Radio City was played on August 5, 2004, at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York. This game is not considered a standard All-Star Game.
In order to allow players to participate in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the WNBA took a mo ...
was held between the WNBA All-Stars and the
USA national team due to the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
.
* The 2008 All-Star Game was not held due to the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
.
* In 2010, the
Stars at the Sun
The Stars at the Sun game was played on July 10, 2010 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, home of the Connecticut Sun. This game, unlike previous non-Olympic year games, was a contest between the USA women's national team and a team ...
game was also held between a team of WNBA stars and the USA national team, even though it was a non-Olympic year and the season did not directly conflict with the year's main international women's basketball event, the
2010 FIBA World Championship for Women
The 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women, the 16th edition of FIBA's premier tournament for women's national basketball teams, was held from September 23 to October 3, 2010 in the Czech Republic. Three cities, Ostrava, Brno and Karlovy Vary, ho ...
.
* The 2012 All-Star Game was not held due to the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
* The 2016 All-Star Game was not held due to the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
.
The following is a list of WNBA All-Stars, players who have been selected for the WNBA All-Star Game at least once in their career. Note that the number indicates the player's number of selections, not the number of games played.
Tamika Catchings
Tamika Devonne Catchings (born July 21, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player who played her entire 15-year career for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Catchings has won a WNBA champio ...
hold the record for most All-Star Game selections with 10. Catchings has sole possession of the record for most All-Star Games played, with 9.
Sue Bird
Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association ( WNBA) Bird was drafted by the Storm first over ...
has the most selections as a starter with 7. As of the
2019 WNBA season
The 2019 WNBA season was the 23rd season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Seattle Storm were the defending champions. The regular season began on May 24, with the Atlanta Dream hosting the Dallas Wings and the New York ...
, 135 players have been selected.
''Note: Statistics are correct as July 2, 2021.''
;Notes
* Denotes a player who is a United States citizen but is naturalized and represents a different country internationally.
References
{{WNBA All-Star Games