2026 WNBA All-Star Game: Rosters, Start Time, TV Channel

The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game tips off Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET at United Center in Chicago. ABC has the broadcast, with streaming on Disney+.

The format is new. To mark the league's thirtieth anniversary, Hall of Famers Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon served as honorary general managers and drafted the rosters themselves. Every previous edition of the draft format used player captains.

A coin flip settled who got the top vote-getter. Cooper won it and was assigned Paige Bueckers, who led all players with 1,045,051 fan votes. Weatherspoon took Caitlin Clark, second in the balloting at 1,023,321.

Weatherspoon picked first from the starters and used it on A'ja Wilson. Cooper countered with Breanna Stewart. Cooper then had the first selection among reserves. The pool ran 22 players deep, 10 starters and 12 reserves, and the two chose without regard to conference or position. The draft aired July 15 on ESPN.

Coaching assignments came from the standings. Las Vegas and Minnesota were both 16-6 through the cutoff date, and Becky Hammon got the nod over Cheryl Reeve because the Aces had won the head-to-head meeting. Hammon went to the team with the leading vote-getter, which put her with Bueckers on Team Coop. Reeve drew Team Spoon.

General manager: Cynthia Cooper. Coach: Becky Hammon.

Starters: Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings; Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty; Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana Fever; Natasha Howard, Minnesota Lynx; Gabby Williams, Golden State Valkyries.

Reserves: Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream; Marina Mabrey, Toronto Tempo; Dominique Malonga, Seattle Storm; Kelsey Plum, Los Angeles Sparks; Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces; Sonia Citron, Washington Mystics.

General manager: Teresa Weatherspoon. Coach: Cheryl Reeve.

Starters: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever; A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces; Olivia Miles, Minnesota Lynx; Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever; Jessica Shepard, Dallas Wings.

Reserves: Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream; Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream; Jonquel Jones, New York Liberty; Courtney Williams, Minnesota Lynx; Kiki Iriafen, Washington Mystics; Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks.

Each All-Star collects a $15,000 participation bonus. The winning side sends $70,000 to its designated charity and the losing side $30,000. Team Coop is playing for Angels Athletics, which works to get young girls into sports. Team Spoon is playing for Girls in the Game, a Chicago organization running sports, health, and leadership programs through schools, parks, and community centers.

The draft split several teammates. Clark and Boston will face Mitchell, their Indiana teammate. Bueckers and Shepard are on opposite benches after playing together in Dallas. Stewart and Jonquel Jones, teammates in New York, were separated. So were Wilson and Jackie Young in Las Vegas, and Citron and Iriafen in Washington. Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams both landed on Team Spoon, while Natasha Howard went the other way.

Clark was named a starter for the third straight year when the league announced the group on July 2. This is her second All-Star Game, after an injury kept her out of last year's in Indianapolis. Alexa Philippou of ESPN picked her to win Most Valuable Player.

Clark carries seven technical fouls into the break, one short of an automatic one-game suspension. On July 17 she scored a career-high 45 points with 10 assists against Seattle, the first 40-point, 10-assist game in league history.

The weekend marks Chicago's second turn hosting. Wintrust Arena had it in 2022.