‘The future’s bright:’ Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, Caitlin Clark react to All-Star nod

LAS VEGAS — For the first time since 2007, the Indiana Fever have three All-Stars on its roster.

Rookie guard Caitlin Clark, second-year center Aliyah Boston, and seventh-year guard Kelsey Mitchell were named All-Stars on Tuesday night, taking up three of the 12 spots on Team WNBA.

Tamika Catchings, Tammy Sutton-Brown, and Anna DeForge were the last trio of Fever All-Stars in a single season. That 2007 Fever team went 21-13, making the Eastern Conference Finals.

“It’s a really, really big thing for our franchise, but I think more importantly, kind of shows like where we are as players, and what we aspire to be individually,” Mitchell said. “I think any great player, any great competitor has an All-Star somewhere down a list, and you know, we put in a lot of work, so it feels good.”

This year’s All-Star Game, which will be in Phoenix on July 20, is Team USA vs. Team WNBA. Team USA, which will represent the U.S. in the Paris Olympics, will use the All-Star Game as an exhibition.

So, there were technically only 12 open spots to be an All-Star — the other 12 were already taken up with WNBA players on Team USA.

Voting for All-Stars came 50% from fans, 25% from media, and 25% from players, and players on Team USA were able to get votes. The top-10 vote getters automatically became All-Stars, regardless Team USA status. The next 36 top vote-getters that were not on the Olympic team went to league coaches, and they filled out the rest of Team WNBA.

It’s the second consecutive all-star nods for Boston and Mitchell, who went to the 2023 All-Star Game in Las Vegas. Boston thinks it’s especially meaningful for Clark, the 2024 No. 1 pick who is an All-Star for the first time.

More: With Clark, Boston, Mitchell, Indiana Fever have three All-Stars for first time since 2007

“I think it just goes to show the talent that we have on this team,” Boston said. “It’s really amazing to be able to play together as an All-Star, but also I think this is really exciting for Caitlin being a rookie coming in and just having an impact the way that she does.”

All three Fever players will be on Team WNBA. Indiana is the only team to more than two players on that team. Las Vegas has four players on the Olympic roster, while Phoenix has three.

“It’s cool, obviously, for myself to accomplish this in my rookie year,” Clark said. “I’m just lucky to be with these two. … It’s big for our franchise, too, like, I think it just shows the talent behind us, and slowly just putting that together. The future’s bright.”