The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game rosters are set with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese making their debuts in the annual showcase later this month.

Clark, the No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever in this year’s WNBA Draft, received the most votes in the fan-voting portion of the balloting. Having already won Rookie of the Month in May, she is leading all first-year players in scoring (16.2 points per game), assists (6.9 per game), and is second league-wide in 3-pointers made (56).

On Tuesday, Reese, the No. 7 pick to the Chicago Sky, was named Rookie of the Month for June. This past weekend, she set a single-season WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles (10), and she led the WNBA in rebounding entering Tuesday night’s action. Like Clark, Reese finished in the top five of the fan vote.

The countdown begins… ⏳

Get ready to witness the ultimate clash of talent as #WNBAAllStar meets the USA Women’s National Team on July 20th at 8:30pm/ET on ABC 📺 pic.twitter.com/oEyJciHmEx

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— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2024

The two rookies are the only two first-time participants in the exhibition, which is set for July 20 in Phoenix. It is the first time since 2014 that two rookies will take part in the game.

The 12 members of the 2024 U.S. Olympic team were automatically granted spots in the All-Star Game. Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, who is appearing in her sixth Olympics, will also be playing in her 11th All-Star Game. Her teammate, center Brittney Griner, will be appearing in her 10th All-Star Game, including 2022 in which she was an honorary participant.

The initial selection of the All-Stars was conducted through a combination of voting by fans (50 percent), a national panel of media members (25 percent) and current WNBA players (25 percent). Coaches filled out the remainder of the roster.

The format of the game will again be Team USA against Team WNBA. In 2021, the last time this format was used, Team WNBA defeated the U.S. Olympic team.

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Team WNBA:

• DeWanna Bonner, Connecticut Sun (sixth All-Star Game)
• Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever (second)
• Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever (first)
• Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream (second)
• Dearica Hamby, Los Angeles Sparks (third)
• Brionna Jones, Connecticut Sun (third)
• Jonquel Jones, New York Liberty (fifth)
• Kayla McBride, Minnesota Lynx (fourth)
• Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana Fever (second)
• Arike Ogunbowale, Dallas Wings (fourth)
• Nneka Ogwumike, Seattle Storm (ninth)
• Angel Reese, Chicago Sky (first)

Team USA:

• Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx (fourth)
• Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury (fourth)
• Chelsea Gray, Las Vegas Aces (sixth)
• Brittney Griner, Phoenix Mercury (10th)
• Sabrina Ionescu, New York Liberty (10th)
• Jewell Loyd, Seattle Storm (sixth)
• Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas Aces (third)
• Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty (sixth)
• Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury (11th)
• Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun (fifth)
• A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces (sixth)
• Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces (third)

Were there any snubs?

As my colleague Sabreena Merchant and I wrote last week, selecting Team WNBA would always be difficult. Reasonable cases can be made for each of the players selected. And all but one team (Washington Mystics) has at least one player in the exhibition.

Possible snubs, however, include Storm center Ezi Magbegor, Lynx center Alanna Smith and Liberty wing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. Magbegor is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year honors. She leads the WNBA in total blocks (42), is seventh in rebounds per game (8.7), is third in offensive rebounds per game (2.9), is third in defensive win shares and fourth in overall win shares. Earlier this season, she recorded at least three blocks in eight consecutive games, the second-longest streak in WNBA history.

Smith anchors a Lynx defense that has the WNBA’s best defensive rating (91.3) since 2007. This season, she has recorded new career-highs in points, assists, steals and blocks. She is fourth in defensive win shares and is also shooting a career-best 46.4 percent from 3-point range. Smith and Magbegor are expected to be key members of the Australian national team this summer, but with both of them not making the WNBA All-Star Game, there is only one international player in the contest (Jonquel Jones).

“I thought she had a good chance as well,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “She’s really good for as well and we’re a good team with a good record. … I just know those things aren’t easy.”

Entering Tuesday night’s game against the Lynx, Laney-Hamilton, the versatile wing for New York, led all WNBA players who have appeared in more than five games in net rating (plus-19.9). She is again one of the WNBA’s top defenders.

Fever is most represented franchise on Team WNBA

After not having any players on the U.S. Olympic team, three members of the Fever (Clark, Boston and Mitchell) were named to Team WNBA, the most of any franchise. Boston, who is averaging 13.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, finished second in the fan vote and was automatically named to the team as a function of being in the top 10.

Like Boston, Mitchell is appearing in her second consecutive All-Star Game. She is averaging 16.3 points per game and was among the eight players named to the All-Star Game following the coaches’ vote.

McBride, Hamby highlight All-Star returnees

McBride, the Lynx guard, is returning to the All-Star Game for the first since 2019. She is Minnesota’s second-leading scorer with 15.8 points per game, her highest output since 2018, and the Lynx have the Western Conference’s best record entering Tuesday (14-4).

“I’m thrilled,” Reeve said. “I thought it was a bit of a no-brainer, but I’m thrilled when it happens. She’s had an incredible season to this point. Career-high in scoring it and just the ways that we count on (her), defensively, passing, everything that we ask her to do, making plays off the bounce. She’s just doing everything for us.”

Hamby is making her third All-Star appearance and the first since 2022. Having been traded in the 2023 offseason, Hamby is appearing in the game just over a year after the birth of her second child. She leads Los Angeles with career highs of 18.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. She will also participate in the Paris Olympics with Team USA’s 3×3 team.

Required reading

(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)

James Wiseman is coming off his second season playing for the Detroit Pistons.

He finished the year with averages of 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 61.3% from the field in 63 games.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Wiseman will sign a deal with the Indiana Pacers.

Via Wojnarowski: “Free agent center James Wiseman has agreed on a two-year contract with the Indiana Pacers, sources tell ESPN. Wiseman was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.”

Wiseman was the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, so he had been seen as a player with All-Star potential.

While the 23-year-old has been unable to live up to the hype, he can still be developed into a solid role player.

Wiseman spent part of three seasons with Golden State before getting traded to the Pistons during the middle of the 2022-23 season.

He was with the Warriors when they won the 2022 NBA Championship (but was injured).

His career averages are 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest while shooting 56.0% from the field in 147 games.

As for the Pacers, they are coming off a fantastic season.

They were the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 47-35 record.

The franchise made the NBA playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season and defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks in the first two rounds.

Ultimately, the Pacers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

Indiana is set to receive $51 million in federal funding to kick-start its workforce development and startup support initiatives as part of the new Tech Hubs Program, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday morning.

Indiana’s Heartland BioWorks Hub was one of 12 hubs chosen to split $500 million in implementation funding stemming from the CHIPS and Science Act and administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The CHIPS and Science Act was co-authored by U.S. Sen. Todd Young of Indiana. CHIPS is an acronym for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors.

The award builds on the state’s initial designation last October as one of 31 federal hubs across the country (chosen from nearly 380 applicants). The Heartland BioWorks Hub is also one of three hubs based in Indiana and is meant to convene an innovation-focused ecosystem of companies and research entities in targeted sectors.

“Indiana’s new tech hub designation has opened our state up to a next level of opportunities,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement early Tuesday. “Now that we have been awarded nearly $51 million to support the implementation, it’s full steam ahead in workforce development and building the specific talent pipelines to support the exact type of innovative business growth and entrepreneurship we want.”

The allotment is a “tremendous” win for the Applied Research Institute, the hub petitioner and organizer, and the larger state biotech sector, CEO David Roberts told IBJ. The award is a reflection of the decades of state and private investment in the animal and plant sector, he said.

Roberts attributed the award to industry leaders in the state—such as Eli Lilly and Co., Corteva Agriscience and Elanco Animal Health—and higher-education partners, including Purdue University, Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana University, who have embraced and collaborated in these efforts. 

“What we do know is … that is a region that is ready with all the right ingredients to be really kind of supercharged for growth over the next few decades,” Roberts said. “That probably is something that set us apart.”

Indiana is home to three federal tech hub designations, which Roberts said is an “overwhelming” accomplishment. The state also houses the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, which received $33 million initially and is awaiting more funding decisions within the year, and the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, or MachH2, Hub, which could receive upward of $1 billion in grant funding.

“We really put these three on the board and said, ‘We got to win at least one of these,’” Roberts said. “We’re just humbled and thrilled that we’re now three for three.”

The funding serves as a “seal of approval that we are this global leader in biotech manufacturing and will be for the foreseeable future,” said Andrew Kossack, executive vice president for partnerships and general counsel for the Applied Research Institute. “It’s just great news for the state and a great recognition of [Young’s] efforts.”

New programs, grants and a headquarters

The money will fund several initiatives falling into two buckets: workforce development (a top priority across the board for ARI) and support for early-stage companies. 

Kossack said the hub’s workforce development programming seeks to supply the growing industry with needed workers. ARI will work with its higher-education partners to develop training and upskilling programs specifically for the sector.

Another program will allow early-stage entrepreneurs and companies to apply for grants to access often cost-prohibitive product-development facilities. ARI also seeks to build a network of resources, funding opportunities, mentors and facilities to support young, innovative companies.

The two priorities converge through the creation of a training and demonstration facility, referred to as BioWorks HQ, at 16 Tech in Indianapolis, Kossack said. Several training programs will be launched out of the location, and startup leaders will have access to wraparound support.

It boils down to creating a “flywheel” of talent and activity, Kossack said, leading to more employers establishing themselves in Indiana. 

The next step for ARI with the bioworks hub is to negotiate contracts. After that, more details and timelines will be available.

ARI said anyone interested in learning more or getting involved with the hub and its programs should reach out to heartlandbioworks@theari.us or connect through the hub website. 

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