2018 WNBA All-Star Game

The 2018 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game played on July 28, 2018. The Minnesota Lynx hosted the WNBA All-Star Game for the first time.[1]

2018 WNBA All-Star Game
1234 Total
Team Parker 27233435 119
Team Delle Donne 31232434 112
DateJuly 28, 2018
ArenaTarget Center
CityMinneapolis, Minnesota
MVPMaya Moore (Team Parker)
Attendance15,922
NetworkABC
WNBA All-Star Game
2017 2019 >

Rosters

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Selection

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On June 5, the WNBA announced that 2018 would have a new roster selection format for the All-Star Game. Fans, WNBA players, head coaches, sports writers and broadcasters would all be able to vote for All Stars. Fans could vote for 10 players, while the groups vote for 22 players (9 guards and 13 front court players). Players and coaches cannot vote for members of their own team. Voting began on June 19, 2018 at 2 PM EDT, and ended on July 12, 2018 at 11:59 PM EDT.

The voting will be weighted as follows:

Voting group Vote weight
Fans 40%
WNBA players 20%
Head coaches 20%
Sports media 20%

Players were not allowed to vote for their teammates. Head coaches could not vote for players on their own team. The top 22 players receiving votes based on this weighting would be selected to the All-Star Game. There would not be a restriction on number of players from one conference. The top two vote-getters would be captains of the two All-Star teams and select their teams from the pool of remaining 20 players. The 22 All-Stars were revealed on July 17, 2018. Rosters were revealed on July 19, 2018, during ESPN2's coverage of the Washington Mystics at the Dallas Wings.[2]

Head coaches

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The head coaches of the two teams will be the head coaches from the two WNBA teams with the best records following games on July 13.[2] On July 12, 2018 the two teams with the best records were determined when the Dallas Wings defeated the Los Angeles Sparks. The Seattle Storm had the best record in the league and the Phoenix Mercury had the second best. Therefore, Dan Hughes was to coach the team captained by the highest All-Star vote getter (Team Delle Donne), and Sandy Brondello would be the coach of the team captained by the second highest All-Star vote getter (Team Parker).[3]

All-Star pool

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The players for the All-Star Game were selected by the voting process described above. The 22 players that would participate in the All-Star Game were announced on July 17, 2018, on Sportscenter. Maya Moore and Elena Delle Donne were the two leading vote-getters and would be the captains of the two All-Star teams. Moore decline the role of captain, and president Lisa Borders named Candace Parker as the replacement captain, due to Parker being the next-leading vote-getter.[4] The selections were led by the Western Conference, with 16 selections, while the Eastern Conference had six players selected.

Final rosters

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^TBC Rosters as of July 25, 2018. Team rosters were announced on July 19, whereas the starters for each team were announced on July 27.
^INJ1 Nneka Ogwumike was unable to play due to illness.[6]
^REP1 Rebekkah Brunson was selected as Nneka Ogwumike's replacement.[6]

Game

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July 28, 2018
3:30 p.m. ET
Team Parker 119, Team Delle Donne 112
Scoring by quarter: 27–31, 23–23, 34–24, 35–34
Pts: Moore, Quigley 18
Rebs: Four players 8
Asts: Diggins-Smith 8
Pts: Toliver 23
Rebs: Three players 6
Asts: Bird 8
Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 15,922
Referees:
  • #23 Jeff Wooten
  • #34 Maj Forsberg
  • #44 Janetta Graham

Three-Point Contest

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On July 24, 2018, it was announced that the Three-Point Contest would return during halftime of the All-Star Game. For the second year in a row, the WNBA will donate $10,000 to a charity of the winner's choice.[7][8]

Rules

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The Three-Point Shootout is a two-round, timed competition in which five shooting locations are positioned around the three-point arc. Four racks contain four WNBA balls (each worth one point) and one “money” ball (worth two points). The fifth station is a special “all money ball” rack, which each participant can place at any of the five locations. Every ball on this rack is worth two points. The players have one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as they can. The two competitors with the highest scores in the first round advance to the championship round.[7]

Results

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Allie Quigly beat Kayla McBride in a tie breaker round, winning the 2018 WNBA three point contest.[9]

Position Player[7] From 2018 Season 3-point statistics 1st Round 2nd Round Tiebreaker
Made Attempted Percent
G Allie Quigley Chicago Sky 52 119 43.7 21 18 29
G Kayla McBride Las Vegas Aces 36 88 40.9 22 18 21
G Kristi Toliver Washington Mystics 52 144 36.1 20 - -
G Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 45 137 32.8 19 - -
G Renee Montgomery Atlanta Dream 53 142 37.3 18 - -
G Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 55 157 35.0 16 - -

References

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  1. ^ Official Release (September 2, 2017). "Minnesota Lynx To Host Verizon WNBA All-Star 2018". WNBA.com.
  2. ^ a b "WNBA Announces New All-Star Game Format". wnba.com. WNBA. June 5, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Hughes, Brondello Earn Head Coaching Spots for WNBA All-Star Game". wnba.com. WNBA. July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  4. ^ "2018 WNBA All-Stars Announced; Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker To Serve As Player-Captains". wnba.com. WNBA. July 17, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Rosters Set For Team Delle Donne vs. Team Parker at Verizon WNBA All-Star 2018". WNBA.com. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Rebekkah Brunson to Replace Nneka Ogwumike in Verizon WNBA All-Star 2018". WNBA.com. July 25, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c "Chicago All-Star Quigley To Defend Title In 2018 WNBA Three-Point Contest". WNBA.com. WNBA. July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  8. ^ "Verizon WNBA All-Star 2018: Three-Point Contest". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  9. ^ "Quigley Wins 3-Point Contest For Her Dad". wnba.com. WNBA. July 29, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.