The WNBA is going with a shooting stars competition instead of a skills challenge, pairing one former great with a current player Friday night as part of All-Star weekend in Chicago.
Lauren Jackson and Flau’jae Johnson will represent the Seattle Storm. The Washington Mystics will have Elena Delle Donne partnered with Shakira Austin. The Dallas Wings, who started as a franchise in Detroit, will pair Jessica Shepard with Deanna Nolan. The Minnesota Lynx will have Rebekkah Brunson playing with Courtney Williams.
Delle Donne was the Sky’s selection with the No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft, won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and played her first four seasons in Chicago. She won two league MVP awards — in 2015 with the Sky and 2019 with the Washington Mystics, whom she led to their lone WNBA championship. She will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 15 in Springfield, Mass.
Each team also will include a standout high school player from Nike EYBL, bringing together three generations of basketball in one competition.
The Nike EYBL participants are Jezelle “GG” Banks, Ryan Carter, Tatianna Griffin and Morghan Reckley. Honorary general managers for the WNBA All-Star Game, Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon, will serve as designated passers, with Cooper distributing the ball to two teams and Weatherspoon to the other two.
The 3-point contest and shooting stars competition begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Wintrust Arena (ESPN). The WNBA All-Star Game tips off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the United Center (ABC-7).
The shooting stars format is a two-round, timed shooting competition in which teams have 70 seconds to score as many points as possible from seven locations around the court. The competition features shots ranging from a layup to a 3-pointer, with the two teams posting the highest scores in the opening round advancing to the championship round.
The shooting stars winners will get $15,000. Each competitor will receive $7,500. Last year the winners of the skills contest each received $2,575.