The celebrities had been out because the WNBA All-Star sport descended upon Indianapolis, from history-making on the court docket to style moments on the Orange carpet, we’ve bought a recap of every thing the girlies had up their leg sleeves.
The action-packed festivities started on Thursday, July 17, with a catwalk because the gamers confirmed off their athletic our bodies and unbelievable sense of fashion whereas strolling the league’s Orange Carpet offered by the courting app Bumble. The Chitown Barbie, Angel Reese, popped out in a head to toe leopard match full with darkish sunnies, a excessive bun, and a cute merlot lippie. And our favourite M’VP, 7-time All-Star A’ja Wilson, paid homage to her basic in-game type—an extended leg sleeve masking just one leg—with a wine-colored robe that includes a thigh-high break up displaying off her excellent gams.
Earlier than the gamers who comprised Staff Clark (with Captain and Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark) and Staff Collier (with Captain and Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier) confronted off, different WNBA stars set the Gainbridge Fieldhouse on fireplace in the course of the Starry 3-Pt Contest and Kia Abilities Problem on Friday evening. New York Liberty guard, Sabrina Ionescu, took house her second three-point contest trophy whereas her teammate Natasha Cloud held it down within the expertise problem rising victorious in a stacked competitors.
The speak of the weekend rapidly turned the 72-hour livestream hosted by Lynx gamers Courtney Williams and Natisha Heideman—who affectionately go by the identify “Studbudz”—that featured moments just like the WNBA’s commissioner Cathy Engelbert dancing to “Knuck If You Buck”, Caitlin Clark lastly having a bit enjoyable and 2025 No.1 decide, Paige Beuckers, belting out Keyshia Cole‘s “Love”. Followers tuned in to the stream for all the behind-the-scenes enjoyable that ESPN wouldn’t have dared to air.
It stays to be seen how the league will really feel about all of the footage as soon as all of the enjoyable subsides, however WNBA lovers are demanding that the Studbudz turn out to be a everlasting a part of the All-Star Weekend. We’re right here for it!
The weekend had so many standout moments that the sport itself appeared to have much less fanfare than the occasions main as much as it; nonetheless, the women delivered. Some of the beloved components of the WNBA All-Star is the 4-point pictures that the gamers are likely to rack up simply. Plus, because the league continues to exceed expectations, the celebrities in attendance have multiplied.
Among the many celebs in attendance had been basketball legend Daybreak Staley, rapper Plies, NBA gamers Bam Adebayo and Tyrese Haliburton in addition to Corridor of Famer Pau Gasol, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, and Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts. But it surely was ATT halftime performer GloRilla who had the girlies on their toes. Performing her hits “Let Her Prepare dinner,” “Typa,” and “TGIF,” the Memphis native proved, but once more, that she is aware of how you can placed on a present.
It wasn’t all enjoyable and video games for the gamers as they took the media time and the elevated eyes on their league to handle the continued pay disparity in girls’s basketball by donning “Pay Us What You Owe Us” t-shirts throughout warmups. As they close to the subsequent CBA, WNBA vets and newcomers alike are getting ready to make an enormous push in direction of will increase in wage, income sharing and percentages of what the league takes house from their abilities. At the moment, WNBA gamers solely obtain round 9 % of league income compared to NBA gamers who web between 49 and 51 %. The whooping distinction has lengthy been some extent of rivalry for girls gamers.
“The largest factor that’s the holdup proper now’s we wish extra wage, we wish larger wage, and that kind of factor, however we need to speak in regards to the percentages and the income share,” mentioned WNBPA President Breanna Stewart. “Primarily based on their most up-to-date proposal, we simply aren’t in a position to get to a spot the place we’re really even speaking about the identical factor.”
The weekend was capped off by a formidable 151-131 victory for Staff Collier during which league veteran Skylar Diggins recorded the primary triple-double in WNBA All-Star sport historical past and Napheesa Collier notched 36 factors to assist lead her squad to a W.
