WNBA All-Star 2025 starters predictions: Clark, Collier, more

As the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis approaches, the teams will begin taking shape.

Voting to help determine the starters closes Friday. The fans' votes count for 50%, the players count for 25% and the sports media count for 25%. The final scores will be calculated by averaging players' weighted rank from those groups. Then the top four guards and top six frontcourt players will be the starters, with fan voting serving as a tiebreaker if needed.

The 12 reserves are later chosen by the league's head coaches, who must vote for at least three guards and five frontcourt players, and then four names at either position. Coaches cannot vote for players on their own teams.

The two players with the most fan votes will serve as captains and draft players on "WNBA Countdown" on July 8 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) before the Las Vegas Aces face the New York Liberty.

With the logistics of choosing the All-Star rosters out of the way, ESPN's Kendra Andrews and Michael Voepel share their ballots predicting the starters and discuss who missed the cut.

Projected starters

Captains

Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Tied for first in assists per game (8.9); was an All-Star last year as a rookie

Clark missed five games with a quad injury and has been in a shooting slump from 3-point range (1 of 23) in her past three games. She missed Thursday's game against Los Angeles with a left groin injury, and it's unclear whether she'll join the team when it travels to Dallas on Friday. But Clark remains an ultra-elite playmaker even when her shot isn't falling. And defenses put so much emphasis on covering her that it opens up opportunities for her teammates. She was the early leader in fan voting, which is likely to hold up and put her in a captain's spot. -- Michael Voepel

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Leads league in scoring (24.4 PPG); four-time All-Star

The second-leading vote-getter in the first All-Star fan vote returns, Collier is a shoo-in. Over the past year, she has ascended to the top of the league, earning the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year award, being named 2024 MVP runner-up and advancing to the WNBA Finals. She is one of the faces of the league, which matters when it comes to being an All-Star starter.

Of course, she has backed up her case on the court. Her league-leading 24.4 points per game are a career high, as are her 52.4% field goal shooting, 42.1% shooting from 3, 3.6 assists and 1.5 blocks. -- Kendra Andrews

Frontcourt

Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever
Leads league starters in field-goal percentage (59.3); two-time All-Star

Boston is top-10 in the league in blocks, rebounding and win shares. She came in as an elite defender, and has continued to improve there. But the hallmark of her three-year WNBA career is her consistency. She had a career-high 31 points in the Fever's victory at Seattle on Tuesday, but struggled in Thursday's loss to Los Angeles: the Fever as a whole struggled with Caitlin Clark sidelined, and Boston was 4-of-13 from the field for just 12 points. Still, Boston tends to bounce back well. -- Voepel

Nneka Ogwumike, Seattle Storm
Ninth on the all-time scoring list; nine-time All-Star

In her 14th season, Ogwumike shows no signs of slowing down. Her scoring is up from a year ago and she's doing it on a better shooting clip. Her 8.2 rebounds per game are her second most over the past six years.

Of course, being an All-Star -- and a starter -- is also about popularity, longevity and one's impact on the game. Ogwuwmike currently sits ninth on the WNBA's all-time scoring list, ninth in rebounding and sixth in steals. The future Hall-of-Famer checks all of the boxes. -- Andrews

Satou Sabally, Phoenix Mercury
Second in the league in usage rate (31.6); two-time All-Star

In her first season with the Mercury, Sabally has taken her game up a notch. She's averaging 19.3 points -- better than her last All-Star year (2023) and in fewer minutes.

She has a whopping eight 20-point games this season and she is only one of three players putting up at least 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal per game, alongside three-time MVP A'ja Wilson and 2024 MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier. -- Andrews

Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
Top three in scoring (21.0 points per game) and win shares (3.1); six-time All-Star

In her ninth season in the league, Stewart is used to carrying a big load. That's been even more the case during center Jonquel Jones' absence with an ankle injury. The Liberty have lost three games, but Stewart continues to do her best to keep them in the hunt to repeat as WNBA champions. If her 51.9 field goal shooting percentage stays at that level this season, it will be her best since she finished at 52.9 in her first MVP season in 2018. -- Voepel

A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Top three in scoring (21.2 points per game), rebounding (9.6) and blocks (2.6); six-time All-Star

It hasn't been the easiest season for the 7-8 Aces, but Wilson -- who missed three games in concussion protocol -- continues to be MVP-caliber. On Wednesday, she became the quickest in WNBA history to reach 5,000 career points, doing it in 238 games. Wilson continues to be one of the best scorers and defenders in the league, and she's also averaging a career high in assists (3.5) this season. [May add details from Thursday game if notable.] -- Voepel

Guards

Skylar Diggins, Seattle Storm
Top-10 all-time in assists (1,602); six-time All-Star

During the inaugural season of Unrivaled, Diggins said she didn't feel like herself last season, the year after she returned to the WNBA from maternity leave. It seems the 3-on-3 league has helped bring her game back to the level she wanted. Diggins is averaging 18.7 points -- the third-highest scoring average in her career. Her 45.5% field goal shooting is also the second-highest mark in her career and a massive rise in efficiency from last year.

Diggins has been an All-Star in six of her 10 seasons in the WNBA. With her production, there is no reason she won't be one again this summer. -- Andrews

Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream
First player to win the All-Star Skills Challenge and 3-point contest (2024); two-time All-Star

Gray, the highest-ranked Dream player in the first round of fan voting, is having the best season of her nine-year career. She was an All-Star last year but her playing level this season should insert her into the starting lineup. She has thrived in new Dream coach Karl Smesko's system, operating in an incredible amount of space with the ultimate green light to shoot the 3. Her 42.9% shooting from distance is a career high, and she is sixth in the league in scoring. -- Andrews

Sabrina Ionescu, New York Liberty
Averaging a career-best 19.7 points; three-time All-Star

Now in her fifth full season in the WNBA -- she was limited to just three games by an ankle injury as a rookie in 2020 -- Ionescu is a savvy veteran who can take over games when needed. She had back-to-back 34-point performances earlier this month, and she's adjusted well to a new backcourt mate in Natasha Cloud this season. Ionescu can make the big plays at crunch time, like going 7-of-7 from the foul line in the last two minutes Wednesday for an 81-78 victory at Golden State. -- Voepel

The toughest cuts

Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream, guard

Howard is having an All-Star caliber season, though that isn't necessarily evident from her stats. Her 35% shooting from the field and 30.6% shooting from 3 are career lows but she's found other ways to impact the game. In Smesko's system, Howard has found a way to thrive as a facilitator, averaging a career-high 4.7 assists. On defense, she's often assigned to the opponent's best scorer. Howard is averaging 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks. Her 5.3 rebounds per game are also a career high.

Starting in the All-Star Game takes so much into consideration, but Howard missed the cut. There's no question, though, she should be in Indianapolis in July. -- Andrews

Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury, forward

In her first season in Phoenix after 11 years in Connecticut, Thomas has been just what the Mercury wanted. She's tied for the league lead in assists (8.9), while also averaging 14.4 points and 7.2 rebounds. She missed five games with a calf injury but is back strong. She's a huge reason the new-look Mercury are off to such a good start. However, it is difficult to crack the top six at the forward position because it is so stacked. -- Voepel

Who might get picked first by the team captains in the All-Star draft

Caitlin Clark: It makes sense for the Fever point guard to pick her teammate, Aliyah Boston, first. The two have forged a very strong connection in just their second season playing together. Clark does a great job of finding Boston in transition, and in the half court as they read each other so well. Boston has excellent hands and is ready to catch any pass from Clark. -- Voepel

Napheesa Collier: Collier and Breanna Stewart's relationship dates to their days at UConn. They've played in the Olympics together. They've competed against each other in the WNBA Finals. Heck, they launched a business (Unrivaled) as partners.

The admiration and respect they hold for one another as competitors and friends has always been a highlight for women's basketball. It's extremely fun to watch the two compete, but it's also almost impossible to pass up the opportunity to team up. With no other Lynx players locked in as All-Stars this season, Collier could turn to an old teammate. -- Andrews