Skylar Diggins Makes WNBA All-Star History — Notre Dame Legend Shines

After finishing dead last in the WNBA Kia Skills Challenge on Friday, former Notre Dame basketball player Skylar Diggins redeemed herself on Saturday after dishing out an All-Star game record 15 assists while recording the first-ever triple-double in All-Star Game history. However, the Seattle Storm guard and 13-year WNBA veteran didn’t come away with All-Star Game MVP honors.

Current WNBA League MVP front-runner Napheesa Collier was named the All-Star Game MVP after scoring an ASG record 36 points. And Collier was efficient too. The Minnesota Lynx forward finished 13 of 16 from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds.

You can certainly debate Diggins was more deserving than Collier for MVP, but that’s a discussion for a different day. After all, the team captain not only set a WNBA All-Star Game record for points scored but she also assembled her team that demolished Team Clark 151-131.

But Diggins did receive praise from her peers unlike anyone else in the league before Saturday’s All-Star Game. When asked who’s the best dressed player in the WNBA, Diggins was the top choice. And who would disagree? Diggins looked dashing at the Orange Carpet on Thursday.

What can’t be debated is how uncompetitive the game was. Uncontested shot after shot after shot. It was just brutal. Defense was nonexistent pretty much the entire time. And to be honest, even if Caitlin Clark played in Saturday’s All-Star Game it wouldn’t have made a difference. The game still would have been uncompetitive.

Fortunately, Notre Dame was well represented in the game with four selections after Kayla McBride was named a late replacement earlier in the week. McBride led all four former Fighting Irish stars with 15 points while Jackie Young played less than a minute due to a previous injury she suffered during the regular season.

Sonia Citron, who won over $31,000 on Friday despite finishing with the lowest score in the 3-Point Contest, finished with 11 points.

Overall, both the WNBA and NBA need to do something to make the All-Star Game more competitive. Give the WNBA credit, they tried by adding some unique rule changes for Saturday’s All-Star Game, including the first-ever four-point shot, but it wasn’t successful. Until then, expect All-Star Game ratings and views to remain low.