The second day of WNBA All-Star Voting is the first of three “2-for-1 Days,” where all fans’ votes count twice.
Should you spend one of your votes on a potential first-time All-Star? Tonight, before the 11:59 p.m. ET double-dip deadline, four players will have the chance to make their first-timer case.
Let’s see if they’re deserving of snagging a spot on your ballot. Spill your thoughts, as well as any first-time All-Star candidates you’re considering supporting, in the comments.
Could Marina Mabrey be the Tempo’s first All-Star?
One of the members
of the Toronto Tempo’s big-dollar backcourt was a first-time All-Star last season. Will the other get the nod this season?
Empowered as a primary offensive options for Canada’s expansion team, Brittney Sykes, third in scoring in the league, is making a bid to become a two-time All-Star, while Marina Mabrey is putting together her most productive offensive season. Is it All-Star worthy?
As covered over the weekend, Mabrey’s output has oscillated, an inconsistency that has characterized her career and been even more exacerbated in Toronto. She’s been electric in wins and off target in losses.
That absence of reliability, in combination with Sykes’ superior numbers and the Tempo’s average record, make is difficult to confidently make an All-Star case for Mabrey. That she has the worst on/off court differential on the Tempo makes it even more difficult.
However, an outburst in a Commissioner’s Cup win in the US capital over the Washington Mystics (7:30 p.m. ET, ION), as the one-loss Tempo aren’t totally out of the Eastern Conference Cup picture, could be the start of some Mabrey All-Star momentum.
Is Marina getting a vote from you? What does she need to do to earn your All-Star support?
Can the Mystics win enough for Shakira Austin to be an All-Star?
As our Beckett Harrison has emphasized in his coverage of the Mystics, the team has three stars, followed by a lot of question marks.
Two of those stars, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, were All-Stars as rookies last season. Will the third, Shakira Austin, make her All-Star debut in her fifth WNBA season?
Not hampered by injuries, Austin is showing the full extent of her abilities and impact. Not only is she scoring a career-high 15.4 points per game and grabbing a career-high 8.3 boards, a level of production predicted by her talent, but she’s also tapping into other aspects of her game. While it’s probably unsustainable, Austin’s made four of her 10 3-point attempts. She’s also averaging almost three assists per game, albeit balanced by three turnovers per game.
Austin already had a big game against the team that gave her a restricted free agent offer sheet over the offseason. Can she again make the Tempo think about what could have been with an All-Star-esque effort on Friday night?
Is Shakira in All-Star consideration for you? Could the Mystics’ mediocre record prevent her from getting the All-Star attention she deserves? Would you have her or Kiki Iriafen as the Mystics’ favored frontcourt All-Star representative? (Hopefully, injury doesn’t answer this question, as Iriafen is questionable on Friday night with an ankle sprain.)
Will the Valkyries’ Veronica Burton confirm her star ascendence with an All-Star selection?
The Golden State Valkyries wasted little time before touting Veronica Burton as an All-Star.
After the Valkyries defeated the visiting Indiana Fever on May 28, Gabby Williams, a first-time All-Star herself last season, made a postgame pitch for her teammate, who finished that game with 25 points, six rebounds, five blocks and a steal.
Burton posted a similarly loud stat line in the Valkyries’ most-recent win over the Phoenix Mercury, again scoring 25 points, but this time complementing her buckets with eight assists.
The All-Star case is air tight, right?
There are a few leaks. Burton’s had a couple of quiet scoring nights, and overall, her statistics are fairly similar to those she compiled last season, with her increase in scoring reflective of her increase in usage.
However, as Golden State outscores opponents by a team-best 67 points in Burton’s minutes, her beyond-the-raw-numbers impact refortifies her All-Star resume. Expect that pattern to continue on Friday night, when the Valkyries visit the Seattle Storm (10 p.m. ET, ION).
Will Burton be getting an All-Star vote from you? Or, do you lean towards Williams, or even Kayla Thornton, also a first-time All-Star last season, as the representative for Golden State? How many All-Stars do the Valkyries deserve?
A concussion cut short Dominique Malonga’s first-time All-Star chances for the Storm
If asked to predict which players would be a first-time All-Star in 2026, many a list would probably feature the name Dominique Malonga.
A high-impact rookie in her off-the-bench minutes for the veteran Storm last season, Malonga was slated to be the central star for the now-retooling and youth-centric Storm. An early-season concussion that took her out of action for eight likewise removed Dom from real All-Star consideration.
In her six games, she’s also probably not done enough to claim that, had she played more, she would deserve to be an All-Star. While more than doubling her scoring average, her efficiency has dropped. Her rebounding numbers also are a bit paltry for a player with her size and gifts.
As she’s still just 20 years old, there are plenty of seasons ahead for Malonga to become an All-Star fixture. The same is true for Storm rookies Awa Fam and Flau’jae Johnson, both of whom, now far from the All-Star conversation, could begin to generate such chatter sooner than later.
For Seattle, it would at least be fun to see Dom, Awa or Flau have an All-Star night against the visiting Valkyries.
Of the Storm’s young core, who do you think will make her first All-Star team first? Is it a lock to be Malonga? Or, could Fam steal that honor?
