Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon bragged about the competitiveness of her team as the 2026 WNBA All-Star draft concluded Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
She and fellow Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper were selected as general managers to construct the rosters.<\/p>\n
Cooper, a two-time WNBA MVP, had a simple response for her counterpart. “But can you score enough points?” Cooper said slyly on the broadcast.<\/p>\n
The game will be played July 25 at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls<\/a>. The WNBA Shooting Stars and WNBA 3-point Contest will be held July 24 at Wintrust Arena, the home of theChicago Sky<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Team Coop” was awarded the top pick via coin flip, and with it came Paige Bueckers<\/a>. The Dallas Wings<\/a> star point guard received the most votes from the fans, so she was awarded to the winner of the coin flip.<\/p>\n “Paige does it all,” Cooper said. “She can shoot the 3, she scores on all three levels, but the most important thing, she is a leader on the floor. She is getting her entire team really involved in everything that they do.”<\/p>\n Indiana Fever<\/a> point guard Caitlin Clark<\/a> earned the second-most fan votes and was given to “Team Spoon.”<\/p>\n Weatherspoon was then given the first pick for the rest of the starters and immediately selected four-time MVP A’ja Wilson<\/a> (Aces<\/a>). She rounded out her starters with Olivia Miles<\/a> (Lynx<\/a>), Aliyah Boston<\/a> (Fever) and Jessica Shepard<\/a> (Wings).<\/p>\n The bench was filled out by Rhyne Howard<\/a> (Dream<\/a>), Allisha Gray<\/a> (Dream), Jonquel Jones<\/a> (Liberty<\/a>), Courtney Williams<\/a> (Lynx), Kiki Iriafen<\/a> (Mystics<\/a>) and Nneka Ogwumike<\/a> (Sparks<\/a>).<\/p>\n Two-time MVP Breanna Stewart<\/a> was the first pick for “Team Coop” as Cooper filled out her starting lineup with Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> (Fever), Natasha Howard<\/a> (Lynx) and Gabby Williams<\/a> (Valkyries<\/a>).<\/p>\n Two-time All-StarAngel Reese<\/a>(Dream) was the first pick of all the reserves and was joined by Marina Mabrey<\/a> (Tempo<\/a>), Dominique Malonga<\/a> (Storm<\/a>), Kelsey Plum<\/a> (Sparks), Jackie Young<\/a> (Aces) and Sonia Citron<\/a> (Mystics).<\/p>\n Weatherspoon said she wanted playmakers, scorers, rebounders and defenders.<\/p>\n “Kind of put together a well-balanced basketball team,” she said.<\/p>\n Cooper’s philosophy was a bit simpler. Scorers were the No. 1 priority before mentioning rebounders. She also wants her team to play fast and be able to get up and down the court since there’s no half-court sets or calling plays.<\/p>\n The game will feature just one rookie in Miles and three first-time All-Stars in Shepard, Malonga and Mabrey.<\/p>\n Aces coach Becky Hammon will coach “Team Coop” while Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve will lead “Team Spoon.”<\/p>\n The two teams will play for a $100,000 prize pool to benefit two Chicago-based organizations focused on retaining girls in sports. The organization paired with the winning team will get $70,000.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. 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