Bueckers Tops Fan Vote as 2026 WNBA All-Star Starters Are Named
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Paige Bueckers led fan voting with 1,045,051 votes, edging Caitlin Clark (1,023,321) and headlining the 10 starters along with A'ja Wilson and presumptive Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles.
- Indiana Fever placed three players in the starting lineup; Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings each had two, while Atlanta Dream were the only top-seven team to land zero starters despite a 12-7 record.
- Rhyne Howard, Atlanta's leading scorer at 18.6 PPG and the league's steals leader, finished ninth in fan voting, fourth with media, and second among players — leaving her one guard spot short of starter status.
- Caitlin Clark earned her third All-Star nod despite ranking 11th in the player vote, even as she posted career highs of 21.2 points and 8.2 assists per game and ranked fifth leaguewide in scoring.
- Only 85 of the league's 180 players submitted All-Star ballots — less than half — with Los Angeles Sparks players telling ESPN they never received theirs; the Sparks took responsibility and pledged a more robust process.
- The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game is set for July 24-25 at Chicago's United Center, with reserves announced July 7 and head coaching jobs going to the two teams with the best records after July 10 play.
Why it matters: The Dream becoming the first top-four team since the current voting format to draw zero starters exposes a structural tension between fan-driven voting and on-court merit, since Howard led the league in steals and ranked 12th in scoring yet finished ninth in the vote that counted 50%. At the same time, fewer than half of all WNBA players bothered to cast ballots, casting doubt on whether the players' 25% slice meaningfully reflects peer respect — or simply hands that power to whichever stars fans remember to vote for daily.
