WNBA: Reasons to root for Team Clark in the 2025 All-Star Game

With the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game being held in Indianapolis, Caitlin Clark doesn’t have to travel very far. The Indiana Fever star led fan voting and was named one of the game’s two captains, giving her the honor of choosing which other All-Stars she’d like to play with. Clark and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier took turns drafting their respective team’s rosters earlier in July.

Unfortunately, Clark won’t be taking part in the festivities. She’s had an injury-riddled sophomore season, playing in just 13 of the Fever’s 23 games, and has chosen to sit out this Saturday’s All-Star Game so she can focus on getting healthy.

While this is bound to disappoint some people, it’s the right decision; a player’s health should always take precedence, especially when it comes to an exhibition game, and the Fever need Clark at her best if they’re going to make a deep playoff run. Her absence shouldn’t keep anyone from watching the All-Star Game, though (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). There will be far too much talent in the game to miss out on, and the team Clark is captaining features a great mix of familiar faces and first-timers to root for.

A’ja Wilson is worth the price of admission alone

Let’s start with arguably the biggest name on Team Clark—and its best player. This Saturday will mark the seventh All-Star appearance for Wilson in her eight WNBA seasons (if the abridged 2020 “bubble” season had an All-Star Game, she’d undoubtedly be eight-for-eight), and the reigning MVP continues to light the league on fire.

It’s easy to get spoiled by a player who constantly produces at an elite level and is regularly among the top finishers for MVP, and the 22.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game Wilson is averaging almost seem to be expected, rather than celebrated—especially after her historic 2024 campaign, when she averaged 26.9 points and became the only player in WNBA history to score over 1,000 total points in a season.

So, let’s add some perspective. As we’ve already established, Wilson has played eight seasons in the WNBA and has been an All-Star in seven of them. During that span, she’s won MVP three times, Defensive Player of the Year twice and was named to the All-WNBA Team five times. Most importantly, she led the Aces to back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023.

That’s an incredible amount of hardware to earn in under a decade, and at 28 years old, Wilson still has many years of basketball left. She’s on a trajectory to become one of the greatest players in WNBA history, and her case for the Basketball Hall of Fame may as well be written in Sharpie. The All-Star Game should be about watching the top players in the WNBA compete against each other, and Team Clark has the best in the world in Wilson.

History is waiting to be written by first-time All-Stars

In addition to the All-Star veterans, Team Clark also boasts five players who have made the All-Star Game for the first time: Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Brittney Sykes, Kayla Thornton and Gabby Williams.

Citron and Iriafen, two rookies from the Washington Mystics, were drafted at No. 3 and No. 4 in the 2025 WNBA Draft, and they’ve looked pro-ready from day one. Citron is currently averaging 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, and she was also chosen to participate in Friday’s 3-Point Contest after shooting 36.5 percent on 3-point attempts per game.

Iriafen, meanwhile, has impressed as the Mystics’ starting power forward, recording double-doubles in four of her first five games and has already passed Chamique Holdsclaw for most double-doubles by a rookie in Mystics history (eight). There’s a fearlessness to Iriafen’s game that makes her well-suited for an All-Star environment, and like with Citron, she’s almost certainly going to be selected for more All-Star Games in the future.

Joining the Mystics’ rookies is Brittney Sykes, who was chosen by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert as the team’s injury replacement for Clark. Sykes, who was commonly named as a snub when the initial All-Star rosters were revealed, is an explosive and dynamic guard whose penchant for making clutch plays on the defensive end of the court will hopefully manifest in several highlights on Saturday. She’s also averaging a career-high 17.1 points per game for the Mystics as their primary offensive option.

Then there’s Thornton, who, like Sykes, has been asked to carry much more of an offensive burden than at any previous point in her career. An integral part of the Golden State Valkyries’ success in their inaugural WNBA season, Thornton defines her team’s tough-nosed, defensive-minded approach, but she’s also been given freer rein on offense than she ever has before. Thornton is posting career-highs across the board (14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game) and it makes sense that she’d be picked to represent the Valkyries in what has been a pleasantly surprising first season in the WNBA.

Last but not least, Williams has continued her steady ascent as one of the WNBA’s most athletic wing players. She, too, is having a career year, posting personal bests in scoring (13.2) and assists (4.4) while leading the league in steals per game (2.4). This could be Williams’ most-prolific season in terms of hardware, too; along with her All-Star appearance, she seems to already have a spot on the WNBA All-Defensive Team sewn up, and winning Most Improved Player is a possibility, too.

Clark’s fellow Fever will represent the team well

Even with Clark sitting out, Fever fans will have plenty to watch for on Saturday. Indiana is once again well-represented in the All-Star Game, with Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell joining Clark as the three Fever players chosen to participate.

Fans know what they’re getting from Mitchell: A high-octane scoring guard who puts up 20-point games with regularity. Her game, which features deep 3-point attempts, a nasty crossover dribble and aggressive takes to the basket, has All-Star written all over it, and statistically, she’s plenty worthy. Mitchell is averaging 19.1 points per game and, for the eighth time in eight WNBA seasons, she’s averaging better than two 3-point makes per game.

Boston, a three-time All-Star, has been her usual consistent self as well, averaging 15.6 points per game (a career-high) on 56.3 percent shooting from the field. The Fever center has gotten to showcase other parts of her game this season, though, particularly when Clark has been on the bench: Boston is a better passer than she’s given credit for, and when the Fever haven’t been able to rely on their primary point guard, it’s been their center who has taken on additional playmaking duties, averaging 3.7 assists per game. The free-flowing nature of the All-Star Game should open up plenty of these opportunities for Boston.