The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game played on July 15, 2023, at Michelob Ultra Arena. The Las Vegas Aces hosted the game and related events for the third time - the previous games being in 2019 and 2021.
A'ja Wilson, of the Las Vegas Aces was the overall leader in fan votes with 95,860, with Breanna Stewart, of the New York Liberty, finishing in 2nd with 87,586 votes.
On July 13, 2023, it was announced that Kehlani would be performing the Half-Time Show.
Rosters Selection On June 5, the WNBA announced that 2023 would have a similar roster selection process to the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. Fans, WNBA players, head coaches, sports writers, and broadcasters would all be able to vote for All Stars. All groups could fill out a ballot of four guards and six front court players. Players and coaches could not vote for members of their own team. Voting began on June 7 at 2 p.m. ET and concluded on Wednesday, June 21 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The voting was weighted as follows: Voting groupVote weightFans50%WNBA players25%Sports media25%
Players were not allowed to vote for their own teammates. The top 10 players receiving votes based on this weighting would be selected to the All-Star Game. These ten players would be deemed the starters. After the announcement of the starters, the WNBA's head coaches will select the 12 reserves. Coaches will vote for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players at either position regardless of conference. They could not vote for their own players. The top two vote-getters will be captains of the two All-Star teams and will select their teams from the pool of 8 remaining starters and the 12 reserves. The captains will draft their respective rosters by selecting first from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves. ESPN may broadcast the WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special.
Fan vote results The following is the top 30 players based on fan voting alone.
RankPlayerNumber of Votes 1 A'ja Wilson 95,860 2 Breanna Stewart 87,586 3 Brittney Griner 72,637 4 Aliyah Boston 72,294 5 Jackie Young 63,262 6 Satou Sabally 60,738 7 Jewell Loyd 59,312 8 Nneka Ogwumike 50,753 9 Elena Delle Donne 49,137 10 Arike Ogunbowale 46,609 11 Kelsey Plum 44,014 12 Chelsea Gray 43,165 13 Candace Parker 42,617 14 Sabrina Ionescu 36,709 15 Napheesa Collier 30,680
RankPlayerNumber of Votes 16 Diana Taurasi 29,712 17 Alyssa Thomas 29,481 18 DeWanna Bonner 28,763 19 Allisha Gray 27,767 20 Kahleah Copper 27,546 21 Shakira Austin 22,837 22 Kelsey Mitchell 20,627 23 Courtney Vandersloot 20,252 24 NaLyssa Smith 19,485 25 Rhyne Howard 19,311 26 Marina Mabrey 15,494 27 Alysha Clark 14,146 28 Brionna Jones 13,668 29 Cheyenne Parker 13,637 30 Jonquel Jones 13,609
Full voting results The following are the overall scores for the Top 10 finishers – based on the results from all three voting groups. The fans votes are weighed at 50%, while votes from the media and players are weighed 25%. The players are sorted by their positions. The top four players at the guards and the top 6 players at the frontcourt positions were deemed the starters for the game. After the release of the voting results, the leagues head coaches will select the twelve All-Star reserves by voting for three guards, five frontcourt players, and four players at either position. The results of this vote was announced on July 1, 2023. +GuardsPositionPlayerTeamFan RankMedia RankPlayer RankWeighted Score 1 Jackie Young Las Vegas Aces 1 1 2 1.25 2 Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 2 2 1 1.75 3 Arike Ogunbowale Dallas Wings 3 3 3 3.0 4 Chelsea Gray Las Vegas Aces 5 4 4 4.5 5 Kelsey Plum Las Vegas Aces 4 7 8 5.75 6 Allisha Gray Atlanta Dream 8 5 6 6.75 7 Kahleah Copper Chicago Sky 9 7 9 8.5 8 Sabrina Ionescu New York Liberty 6 6 19 9.25 9 Diana Taurasi Phoenix Mercury 7 10 14 9.5 10 Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 10 13 5 9.5
+FrontcourtPositionPlayerTeamFan RankMedia RankPlayer RankWeighted Score 1 A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 1 2 2 1.5 2 Breanna Stewart New York Liberty 2 1 1 1.5 3 Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 3 6 3 3.75 4 Satou Sabally Dallas Wings 5 3 4 4.25 5 Aliyah Boston Indiana Fever 4 7 6 5.25 6 Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles 6 5 5 5.5 7 Alyssa Thomas Connecticut Sun 10 4 7 7.75 8 Elena Delle Donne Washington 7 9 9 8.0 9 Napheesa Collier Minnesota 9 8 8 8.5 10 DeWanna Bonner Connecticut Sun 11 10 10 10.5
Head coaches The head coaches for the AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023 will be the head coaches of the two teams regardless of conference with the best records following games on Friday, June 30. The head coach with the best record as of that date will coach the team whose captain earned the most fan votes.
Becky Hammon, coach of the Las Vegas Aces, and Stephanie White, coach of the Connecticut Sun, qualified to be the two head coaches for the 2023 All-Star Game. They earned the right to be the coaches as they guided their teams to the top two spots in the standings as of that date. This is Hammon's second time and White first time as head coaches in the All-Star game. White had previous been an assistant coach for the Western Conference Team in the 2013 game. Hammon coached Team Wilson due to having the best record at the date coaches were chosen and Wilson having the most votes. White coached Team Stewart.
All-Star pool The players for the all-star Game were selected by the voting process described above. The starters for the game were announced on June 25, 2023, with A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty leading in fan votes. Those two were named captains for the game. This was Wilson and Stewarts fifth time being named to the All-Star team.
The Western Conference provided the majority of the all-star starters with eight of the starters being from that conference. Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury was selected for the ninth time, and she was joined the in starting front court by Satou Sabally of the Dallas Wings, Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever, and Nneka Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Sparks. This was Sabally's second selection, Boston's first, and Ogwumike's eighth. The starting front court consisted of Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces, Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm and Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings. Gray, and Loyd have earned five all-star game selections, while it was Ogunbowale's third and Young's second selections.
Opposite of the starters, the Eastern Conference provide the majority of the All-Star reserves with nine of the twelve reserves coming from that conference. Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics was selected for the seventh time, joined in the front court by Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner of the Connecticut Sun, Cheyenne Parker of the Atlanta Dream, Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, and Ezi Magbegor of the Seattle Storm. This was Thomas's fourth selection, Bonner's fifth, Collier's third, and Parker and Magbegor's first. The backcourt reserves consisted of Kahleah Copper of the Chicago Sky, Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream, Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot of the New York Liberty, Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever, and Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces. Vandersloot earned her fifth All-Star selection, Cooper earned her third, while Ionescu and Plum earned their second. Gray and Mitchell were named to their first All-Star game.
Delle Donne was announced out for the game following an ankle injury on July 11. Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream was selected as her replacement. This is Howard's second All-Star selection.
+Eastern Conference All-StarsPosPlayerTeamNo. of selectionsStartersCAliyah BostonIndiana Fever1FBreanna StewartNew York Liberty5ReservesGKahleah CopperChicago Sky 3GAllisha GrayAtlanta Dream 1GSabrina IonescuNew York Liberty 2GKelsey MitchellIndiana Fever 1GCourtney VanderslootNew York Liberty 5F Alyssa ThomasConnecticut Sun 4F Elena Delle DonneWashington Mystics 7F DeWanna BonnerConnecticut Sun 5F Cheyenne ParkerAtlanta Dream 1F Rhyne Howard Atlanta Dream 2
+Western Conference All-StarsPosPlayerTeamNo. of selectionsStartersCBrittney GrinerPhoenix Mercury9FNneka OgwumikeLos Angeles Sparks8FSatou SaballyDallas Wings2GChelsea GrayLas Vegas Aces5GJewell LoydSeattle Storm5FA'ja WilsonLas Vegas Aces5GArike OgunbowaleDallas Wings3GJackie YoungLas Vegas Aces2ReservesGKelsey PlumLas Vegas Aces 2F Napheesa CollierMinnesota Lynx 3F Ezi MagbegorSeattle Storm 1
All-Star selections per team +Number of All-Star players per teamTeamNumber of players Atlanta Dream 3 Chicago Sky 1 Connecticut Sun 2 Indiana Fever 2 New York Liberty 3 Washington Mystics 1 Dallas Wings 2 Las Vegas Aces 4 Los Angeles Sparks 1 Minnesota Lynx 1 Phoenix Mercury 1 Seattle Storm 2
Draft The WNBA-All Star draft took place on July 8, 2023. A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart were named captain respectively as they received the most fan votes. The first six players to be drafted were starters. The next 12 players, chosen by WNBA head coaches were then drafted. Wilson began the draft of the starters due to her having the most votes, while Stewart began the draft of the reserves.
+ 2023 All-Star DraftPickPlayerTeam 1 Chelsea Gray Wilson 2 Brittney Griner Stewart 3 Jackie Young Wilson 4 Jewell Loyd Stewart 5 Aliyah Boston Wilson 6 Satou Sabally Stewart 7 Arike Ogunbowale Wilson 8 Nneka Ogwumike Stewart 9 Courtney Vandersloot Stewart 10 Kelsey Plum Wilson 11 Sabrina Ionescu Stewart 12 Allisha Gray Wilson 13 Ezi Magbegor Stewart 14 Alyssa Thomas Wilson 15 Napheesa Collier Stewart 16 Cheyenne Parker Wilson 17 Kelsey Mitchell Stewart 18 DeWanna Bonner Wilson 19 Kahleah Copper Stewart 20 Elena Delle Donne Wilson
Final rosters
+ Team StewartPosPlayerTeamNo. of selectionsStarters G Jewell Loyd Seattle Storm 5 F Satou Sabally Dallas Wings 2 F Breanna Stewart New York Liberty 5 F Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles Sparks 8 C Brittney Griner Phoenix Mercury 9Reserves G Kahleah Copper Chicago Sky 3 G Sabrina Ionescu New York Liberty 2 G Kelsey Mitchell Indiana Fever 1 G Courtney Vandersloot New York Liberty 5 F Napheesa Collier Minnesota Lynx 3 F Ezi Magbegor Seattle Storm 1Head coach: Stephanie White (Connecticut Sun)
+ Team WilsonPosPlayerTeamNo. of selectionsStarters G Chelsea Gray Las Vegas Aces 5 G Jackie Young Las Vegas Aces 2 G Arike Ogunbowale Dallas Wings 3 F A'ja Wilson Las Vegas Aces 5 C Aliyah Boston Indiana Fever 1Reserves G Allisha Gray Atlanta Dream 1 G Kelsey Plum Las Vegas Aces 2 F DeWanna Bonner Connecticut Sun 5 F Elena Delle Donne Washington Mystics 7 F Cheyenne Parker Atlanta Dream 1 F Alyssa Thomas Connecticut Sun 4 F Rhyne Howard Atlanta Dream 2Head coach: Becky Hammon (Las Vegas Aces)
Elena Delle Donne was injured during her July 9 game against the Connecticut Sun and was ruled out of the All-Star Game. Rhyne Howard was selected as a replacement for Elena Delle Donne on July 11, 2023.
Game
Rule changes The WNBA put in three new rules for the 2022 All-Star Game and brought them back for the 2023 All-Star Game:
4-Point Shot Four circles – two at each end of the court – were placed above the current three-point line 20-Second Shot Clock Automatic Points for Free-Throw Attempts: “No Free-Throws”
Three-Point Contest & Skills Challenge On January 12, 2023, it was announced that there will be a Three-Point Contest and Skills Challenge on July 14, the night before the All-Star game. It will be televised on ESPN in the US and on TSN1/4/5 in Canada. The Three-Point Contest is presented by Starry, while the WNBA Skills Challenge is presented by Kia.
Three-Point Contest