Let’s draft some WNBA All-Star rosters! — Mo’ne Davis talks WPBL

Welcome to Basketball Insider, presented by The BIG EAST Conference. The WNBA’s All-Star weekend is just over a week away (we’ll have a swarm of full-team coverage from The IX Sports there, don’t you worry), and we’ll be hearing from Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon about their roster selections on Wednesday. But as a fun exercise, I thought we could build these two teams ourselves.

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For reference: we’re not ranking these players. Nor are these predictions. We’re letting each team evolve in response to how the other roster is looking, addressing needs, and most delightfully, we’re not bound by position in an increasingly positionless league. (We’ll also pretend that both sides will play defense all night.)

Accordingly, I will call these Team 1 and Team 2, since we don’t know whether Cooper or Weatherspoon is choosing first.

Draft List

Starters!

Round 1

Team 1: Breanna Stewart

Team 2: A’ja Wilson

Analysis: Stewart is doing everything so far this season, even starting to find her range from deep once again. Wilson is the MVP right now in my view, but Stewart is slightly easier to build around for purposes of this game.

Round 2

Team 1: Olivia Miles

Team 2: Paige Bueckers

Analysis: In both cases, a primary ballhandler to pair with Stewart and Wilson allowing them to maximize their effectiveness in the lane.

Round 3

Team 1: Caitlin Clark

Team 2: Kelsey Mitchell

Analysis: Pure scoring selections that maximize floor-stretching opportunities at both ends. Clark and Mitchell free up Miles and Bueckers to maximize their skills off the ball as secondary ballhandlers.

Round 4

Team 1: Aliyah Boston

Team 2: Jessica Shepard

Analysis: Finally, some divergence in strategy. Boston next to Stewart allows Team 1 to operate similarly at both ends to the way Stewart does with Jonquel Jones. Shepard, meanwhile, can turn Wilson into a purer 5 while adding another offensive facilitator and rebounder.

Round 5

Team 1: Gabby Williams

Team 2: Natasha Howard

Analysis: Finally, Williams is a counter to Shepard, and can guard her while bringing a defensive conundrum to Team 1 to handle. And Howard will be the primary defender on Boston in the paint to limit second shots.

Reserves time!

Round 6

Team 1: Rhyne Howard

Team 2: Allisha Gray

Analysis: A pair of Dream killers, two-way contributors, and a reminder that not only was Howard on my starter ballot, she’s probably on my MVP ballot right now.

Round 7

Team 1: Angel Reese

Team 2: Kelsey Plum

Analysis: More divergence. Reese is a play to both keep the same rim pressure even with Boston out of the game and to win the rebounding battle. Plum can stretch the floor even further and make teams pay for overcommitting on Wilson or Bueckers. (Yes, I know Plum will likely be replaced due to injury, but no replacement has been named yet and this is a fantasy exercise.)

Round 8

Team 1: Marina Mabrey

Team 2: Dominique Malonga

Analysis: In both cases, response picks to the previous round. Team 1 goes and gets the Plum answer, with Mabrey on board to provide limitless shooting. I hope we get some Clark/Miles/Mabrey minutes in this pretend game. Malonga, meanwhile, can provide defensive response to the time Reese is on the floor and also draw Reese out to the perimeter defensively when Reese is guarding her.

Round 9

Team 1: Jonquel Jones

Team 2: Courtney Williams

Analysis: No, this isn’t a round dedicated to resurrecting the 2019 Connecticut Sun, but rather rounding out rosters with additional versatility. Jones can be both another banger inside or utilize her elite three-point shooting in some jumbo lineups. Williams can exploit the midrange that opens up with so much talent at the rim and beyond the arc, even serving as primary point guard for individual spells.

Round 10

Team 1: Jackie Young

Team 2: Nneka Ogwumike

Analysis: Once again, responding to the last round — Young is the counterpoint to Williams, addressing her midrange defensively and offering additional scoring firepower. Ogwumike can add bulk inside and serve as a versatile defender of Jones, while stretching her defensively at the other end.

Round 11

Team 1: Sonia Citron

Team 2: Kiki Iriafen

How crazy is the talent in this league that these are the last two players selected in my pretend All-Star draft?!?

Anyway, if you’d like a complete breakdown of the actual rosters, we’ll have that for you as well in this week’s Basketball Edition of The IX Sports Podcast.

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This week in women’s basketball

Here’s Maitreyi Anantharaman on the Skylar Diggins-Sky blowup.

Cassandra Negley’s perspective on Caitlin Clark is worth your time.

Paige Bueckers speaks out on the shortage of Black women head coaches in the WNBA.

Real-world consequences for a racist who sent messages to Chelsea Gray. More of this, please!

Adia Barnes joined our college basketball podcast this week.

Hear what’s really happening with Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.

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Five at The IX: Mo’ne Davis, Los Angeles Queens

Much more to come on the Women’s Pro Baseball League, which we are already covering extensively, but for now, enjoy Mo’ne Davis from WPBL team name reveal day.

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Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer