BIRD, STEWART, AND LOYD NAMED WNBA ALL-STARS

The Seattle Storm will be well-represented at the 17th WNBA All-Star Game as Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd are among the 24 players voted-in as part of a combination of fan, player, media, and coach voting. The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game takes place Wednesday, July 14 at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and will be broadcast live by ESPN at 4 p.m. PT.

In a unique format, the 17th WNBA All-Star Game pits the WNBA’s top talent against one another in a clash between WNBA All-Stars and the USA Basketball Women’s National Team. All three Storm players have been selected to the USA Olympic team and will represent the red, white, and blue side against the other WNBA All-Stars.

For Bird, this season marks her WNBA-record 12th all-star selection, moving her past Indiana great Tamika Catchings who was chosen 11 times in 15 seasons. Stewart and Loyd each garnered their third all-star selections.

Bird is putting together another impressive season, doing so while being just the sixth player in WNBA history play after turning 40. Bird ranks third in the WNBA with 6.1 assists per game and is just 15 assists away from being the first player in league history to amass 3,000 career assists.  In addition, among WNBA guards, she ranks fifth in field goal percentage at 48.8% and third in three-point field goal percentage at 42.9%. A four-time WNBA champion and the league’s career leader in assists (2,985), Bird joins Diana Taurasi and Teresa Edwards as the only five-time U.S. women’s basketball Olympians.

Stewart is having another MVP-caliber season, averaging 21.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, ranking second in each category. She has also recorded the two highest scoring games of the season with 36 points at Dallas on May 22 and 35 on Sunday at Las Vegas. Stewart has been named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week three times this season and also earned WNBA Player of the Month honors for May.

Loyd, who is making her first Olympic team appearance this season, is averaging career-bests of 18.6 points and 4.5 assists per game, and shooting 45.1% from the field. Loyd, the 2015 WNBA Rookie of the Year and a two-time WNBA Champion, became the 12th-youngest player in WNBA history to eclipse the 3,000 career point mark with 23 points against Washington on June 22—her seventh game scoring 20 or more points this season. On June 6, Loyd earned her first WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week honor after averaging 22.7 points, 4.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game in three games that week.

The initial selection of the All-Stars was conducted through a combination of voting by fans (50 percent of the vote), current WNBA players (25 percent) and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25 percent) from June 15 through June 27.

The top 36 vote-getters from that voting process who are not members of the USA Basketball 5×5 roster, were provided to WNBA Head Coaches who determined from that list, the 12 players who will play for the Team WNBA All-Stars. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Each coach was required to submit votes for five frontcourt players, three guards, and four additional players at any position.

Starters for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2021 will be determined by the respective head coaches of Team WNBA and the USA Basketball Women’s National Team.

As previously announced by the league, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team will hold training camp in Las Vegas in July. If a player for the USA Basketball Women’s National Team is unable to participate in AT&T WNBA All-Star 2021, USA Basketball will appoint a replacement. Should a member of Team WNBA be unable to play for any reason, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will name a replacement. 

For ticket information for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2021, log on to wnba.com/allstar.

Below are the rosters for the WNBA All Stars representing Team WNBA and the USA Basketball Women’s National Team (USA Women).

TEAM WNBA

(Co-Head Coaches, WNBA Legends Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson)

via: Storm PR