Back in 2018, the WNBA officially ditched the traditional East vs. West format for its All-Star Game. Instead, the league introduced a fresh, dynamic setup: the 22 top players, selected through fan, media, and player voting, would make the All-Star roster, and two captains would draft their teams from that pool, conference affiliations be damned. The inspiration came from the NBA, which had introduced a similar format. But WNBA legend Sue Bird had one big suggestion: televise the draft. “Maybe they’ll learn and show the actual draft. Take it back to elementary school days,” Bird said. “You get picked first, great. If you go last, you’re still an All-Star.” Well, the WNBA listened the next year itself. Thanks to that, fans can now watch Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier, the top vote-getters, draft their squads during a one-hour WNBA Countdown special on July 8 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Now, everyone loves picking sides, whether it’s pineapple on pizza, cats vs. dogs, or in this case, Team Collier or Team Clark. But before anyone gets too deep into the debate, they would like to figure out what these teams might even look like, right? Luckily, Clark’s been dropping hints like breadcrumbs, and honestly, that might just make about 20% of your decision way easier.

Earlier last week when Caitlin Clark was announced as one of the captains for this year’s All-Star game after getting 1,293,526 votes, she made one thing very clear!

“Obviously, I’m going to try to get my teammates on my team. Why wouldn’t I?” Clark said. “That’s the goal, and once they come out with whoever has made it — I don’t really know how it works — but my first goal would be to have my teammates on my team.”

The Indiana Fever has three players representing them in the All-Star Game – Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston. Unfortunately, Lexie Hull, who impressively ranked 8th after the first round of fan voting, just missed out on what could have been her first All-Star appearance. Still, with plenty of Fever representation, the hometown fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse have every reason to be excited. And to top it all off, like a cherry on the cake, Clark again didn’t hold back about just how much she wants to suit up alongside her teammates in front of the hometown crowd.

According to reporter Scott Agnes, the Indiana Fever held an open practice session for their home crowd, and as you would expect, it drew thousands of fans. And right there, in front of all of them, Caitlin Clark made her intentions clear.

“I think there’s a high chance that Kels and AB are on my team,” Clark said. “I’ll do everything I can. I might trade the rest of my team for those two. I’m excited. I think it will be fun and that’s what the All-Star Game is really about. Just getting the fans something to cheer about.”

 

Well, there’s no shortage of reasons for Indiana fans to get hyped, especially when you remember that these three suited up together for Team WNBA in last year’s All-Star Game. And honestly, they started making headlines before the game even tipped off, thanks to their entrance. We’re definitely hoping for a repeat of that style slay.

The trio pulled up together, looking every bit like a red carpet power squad. Kelsey Mitchell turned heads in a bold, patterned bodysuit featuring WNBA team jerseys. Aliyah Boston went full glam in a red sequined top and flowing floral pants—“a look evocative of the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz,” as ON3 perfectly described it. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark served a “boss moves only” vibe in a crisp white sweater with red accents, a burgundy leather skirt, and accessories to match – shoes and a handbag in the same deep red tone.

Also, who can forget the trio’s iconic selfies? As the Fever’s official Instagram account posted one of them, Clark could not help but say, “Selfie goes incredibly hard“. And Clark was just incredibly happy to be surrounded by familiar faces, saying, “Yeah, we all get to be on the same team, so at least we’ll have each other. We can have some familiarity I guess. Obviously, it’s fun, it’s cool for myself to accomplish this in my rookie year, but I’m just lucky to be a part of and with these two”. So, yes, we are all waiting to see a repeat of that.

Caitlin Clark’s injury update

This season has been a challenging one for Caitlin Clark. After playing every game last year, she has managed to play just 9 games this season. The constant injury setbacks have clearly impacted her rhythm and shot efficiency as well which was visible during the stretch of games before her groin injury.

But it goes without saying that the Fever would rather have her back and miss shots than not have her on the team at all. Coach White has finally given an encouraging update regarding her talisman. When asked if Clark would play this Wednesday against the Valkyries, she said, “I hope so….The same structure, I would say, return to play structure as we have been doing. She gets to do a little bit more, and then we see tomorrow: is there progress, or is there any regression? How does she feel? How does she look? What does recovery look like? And so this was really the first time we’ve been able to get around as live action. So, we’ll see what it brings tomorrow.”

It will be interesting to see if Clark does return in time for the Valkyries game. Things could get messy for the All-Star game if Indiana’s favorite child can’t quite recover in time. But for now, let’s enjoy the All-Star Draft! So, do you think Clark will be able to draft her Fever teammates to her squad? Let us know in the comments below!