Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Paige Bueckers Headline the 2026 WNBA All-Star Starters
The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game is going to be a show. The starters were announced this week and the top of the ticket looks like a marketing team’s dream.
Paige Bueckers led all players in fan voting with 1,045,051 votes. Caitlin Clark was right behind her at 1,023,321. A’ja Wilson is starting again. So is Napheesa Collier. The starting lineups are stacked with young stars and returning MVPs, and the game itself is going to be played in Chicago at the United Center on July 25.
This is the 30th anniversary of the WNBA All-Star Game. The league picked a great year to celebrate.
Bueckers being the top vote-getter is a story on its own. She is only in her second year in the league after being taken first overall by Dallas. Her game translated instantly. She scores, she facilitates, she plays with more polish than a lot of veteran guards. She is the future face of the league, and the fans have already voted her into that role.
Clark is right there with her. The Fever star has changed the economics of the WNBA over the past two years. Ratings are up. Ticket sales are up. Merchandise sales are up. She had a 45-point outing earlier this month that also included 10 assists, becoming the first player in WNBA history to hit both marks in the same game.
Wilson is the reigning MVP and the closest thing the league has to Kevin Durant. She is unguardable. She is efficient. She is the anchor of a Las Vegas Aces team that keeps winning championships even as other teams try to catch up.
Napheesa Collier is having the year of her career. Angel Reese is doing Angel Reese things in Chicago and getting the home crowd on her side. The 3-Point Contest on Friday is going to be a party. The dunk contest is not the NBA’s, but the skills competition has become a real event in its own right.
The bigger story is what this weekend represents. The WNBA has spent decades trying to break through to a broader audience. Between Clark, Wilson, Bueckers, Reese and the rest of this generation, the league is finally there. The All-Star Game is a global event now, not a niche one.
The fact that no Atlanta Dream players made the starting cut is one of the quiet story lines. The Dream have had a solid year, but the fan-voted starters did not include any of them. The reserves will fill in the rest of the roster and include a mix of veterans and emerging stars.
Chicago is the perfect host city for this year’s game. The Sky have leaned into the moment. The WNBA Live event on Friday is going to have a red carpet feel. Players are treating the weekend like a real event, and the fans are showing up in force.
For anyone who has slept on the WNBA over the past few years, this weekend is the wake-up call. The best players in the world are on the same floor, the crowd is going to be electric, and the game is going to look like an NBA All-Star exhibition, only with more competitive juice.
The league is having a moment. Chicago is going to prove it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
