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NEW YORK (AP) — Paige Bueckers will play in her first WNBA All-Star Game while Nneka Ogwumike has earned her 10th selection, the league announced Monday as it named the players who will join Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier as All-Star starters.
Bueckers, who was the No. 1 overall draft pick by the Dallas Wings, will be the 10th rookie to start the game. It’s the third straight season it’s happened, with Clark getting a start last year and Aliyah Boston in 2013. Bueckers is ranked 11th in the league in scoring (18.4 points) and sixth in assists (5.8) to lead all rookies in both categories. She received the sixth most votes from the fans.
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Ogwumike, who stars for Seattle, is tied for the third-most All-Star appearances with Tamika Catchings and Brittney Griner. She trails only Sue Bird (13) and Diana Taurasi (11).
Clark and Collier were named captains of the teams on Sunday for receiving the most fan votes. The pair will draft their teams by choosing among the other starters as well as the 12 reserves chosen by coaches. The reserves will be announced this weekend.
New York’s Breanna Stewart and Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson each earned a seventh All-Star nod and will be in the starting lineup. Other starters selected Monday by a combination of fan, media and player voting included guards Allisha Gray of Atlanta and Sabrina Ionescu of New York. The frontcourt also will feature Phoenix’s Satou Sabally and Boston, Clark’s Indiana teammate.
The starters were selected from across the WNBA without regard to conference affiliation. Players and a media panel joined fans in selecting the starters. Fans voting accounted for 50%, while the player and media votes each accounted for 25%.
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Boston finished fewer than 1,400 votes behind Minnesota star Collier for second in the fan voting. While Clark finished first in the fan vote, she was ninth in the players’ vote and third in the media voting for guards.
Kelsey Mitchell of Indiana and Angel Reese of Chicago both just missed making the All-Star starters list, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, at their positions.
The game will be played in Indianapolis on July 19.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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