A’ja Wilson is drafted No. 1 as Cooper and Weatherspoon pick WNBA All-Star teams

Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson was selected first in the WNBA All-Star draft for the exhibition game that will be played on July 25 in Chicago.

Acting as honorary general managers, WNBA greats Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon each drafted All-Star teams Wednesday from players that previously were either voted as starters by fans, media and fellow players or chosen as reserves by the league’s coaches.

Previously, the top two fan vote-getters would serve as captains and draft their own teams. This year that would have been Dallas’ Paige Bueckers and Indiana’s Caitlin Clark. Instead, they were each assigned to a team, with Bueckers headlining Cooper’s team and Clark atop Weatherspoon’s squad.

Joining Bueckers in the starting lineup were New York’s Breanna Stewart, Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell, Minnesota’s Natasha Howard and Golden State’s Gabby Williams. Weatherspoon picked Las Vegas’ Wilson, Minnesota’s Olivia Miles, Indiana’s Aliyah Boston and Dallas’ Jessica Shepard.

Cooper had the first pick of the reserves and chose Atlanta’s Angel Reese. She’ll play against her two Dream teammates Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, who were chosen by Weatherspoon.

Cooper also drafted Toronto’s Marina Mabrey, Seattle’s Dominique Malonga, Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas’ Jackie Young and Washington’s Sonia Citron as reserves. Weatherspoon also took New York’s Jonquel Jones, Minnesota’s Courtney Williams, Washington’s Kiki Iriafen and Los Angeles’ Nneka Ogwumike. Ogwumike, an 11-time All-Star, was chosen with the final pick of the draft.

Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon will coach Cooper’s team and Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve will be in charge of Weatherspoon’s squad. Las Vegas and Minnesota had identical records through July 10, but the Aces had a tiebreaker with their victory over the Lynx. That put Hammon in charge of Bueckers’ squad because she was the leading vote-getter.

Portland, Chicago, Connecticut and Phoenix have no All-Stars.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press