2025 WNBA All-Star Snubs: Brittney Sykes and Kayla McBride among the biggest misses

NBC Sports

6 days ago

The participants for the 2025 WNBA All-Star game have been set with captains Napheesa Collier and Caitlin Clark selecting their teams from an eight-player pool of starters and then a 12-player pool of reserves. That selection process will be revealed during an hour-long episode of WNBA Countdown on Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game will take place on Saturday, July 19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
🌟 Complete roster of the 2025 @ATT WNBA All-Stars that will take the court in Indiana July 19 🌟 pic.twitter.com/6XgNr5UK6R
There are four first time All-Stars in Storm wing Gabby Williams, Valkyries Forward Kayla Thornton and Mystics rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.
While there were some snubs in the All-Star starters category including primarily Skylar Diggins and Alyssa Thomas, the general opinion around the starters was that the weighted voting combining the fan votes, peer votes and media votes spit out a group that was mostly very fair and rational.
But the exact opposite feeling surrounds the reserves which were announced on Sunday afternoon. Some believe that this might have been the most perplexing group of players chosen by the head coaches in recent memory.
A void that stands out in the total group of 2025 WNBA All-Stars is the sheer lack of centers with Jonquel Jones, Alanna Smith, and Brionna Jones being left off the reserves list. Two Sparks front court players in Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens were left off after having pretty efficient starts to their seasons. But the argument against one or both of Stevens and Hamby being selected lies in the fact that the Sparks are 6-13 this season and are 10th in the standings out of 13.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve expressed her confusion by the reserves selected, especially because teams like the Mystics are below .500 and will boast 2 All-Stars. Also the fourth best team in the league in the Seattle Storm will have the most All-Stars with three while the top three teams in the Lynx, Mercury and Liberty will have just two.
'Historically, teams at the top get a minimum of three, oftentimes four. So really disappointing,' Reeve said. 'Really, really happy for Courtney [Williams]. The obvious one was [Napheesa Collier], but we are disappointed in the coaches voting with regard to their selections for All-Star.'
So who was snubbed and why are there a lot of questions surrounding the judgment of the 13 head coaches around the league? It's hard to exactly know the reasons for the glaring discrepancies this season, but it's worth remembering that there are seven first time WNBA head coaches this season.
Also, who knows what each coach considered while voting. They had from June 29 until July 2 to vote for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players of either position. Was this also a popularity contest when it comes to the players who are the most well liked around the league? Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello admitted on Sunday that she voted for Thornton, a player she coached for two seasons including during the Liberty's championship year in 2024.
'She's been a role player all of her career,' Brondello said. 'But to go into a new organization and do so well. I voted for her as an alternate. I think it would be great for her to get there, and because she deserves it.'
While Thornton hasn't been the most efficient shooting 39.2% from the field and 27.9% from three, the Valkyries deserved a representative simply because of the season they've had as the best year-one expansion team in WNBA history. Thornton is their leading scorer, was a WNBA Western Conference player of the week last month and her contributions come on both ends of the floor.
Anyway, let's get into some of the most head-scratching snubs in recent memory.
Sykes is the Mystics' leading scorer (17.9 ppg) and she often is tasked with defending the opponent's best perimeter player. She is averaging 8.7 free throw attempts per game which leads the WNBA. She also leads her own team in assists averaging 4.6 per game.
Whatever about me…. But taking 2, and NOT including the best player from a below 500 team is crazy. https://t.co/sMUZ4QlCjY
Speaking of Sykes' own team, while Sonia Citron has put together an impressive rookie season and more efficient shooting splits than her teammate, her load isn't as demanding as Sykes. It remains bizarre to reward a below .500 team in the league with two All-Stars and one of them isn't even their number one option and leading scorer in Sykes.
Jones might be the Dream's second most important player after All-Star starter Allisha Gray. She has just as many win shares as All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins and more than Sabrina Ionescu and Alyssa Thomas.
Even though Rhyne Howard is the Dream's second leading scorer and was the second Dream player to make the All-Star team, her teammate in Jones has been leaps and bounds more efficient. Jones has been shooting 51% from the field and makes a little bit over 5 shots a game. Howard has shot 34.2% from the field and also makes a little bit over 5 shots a game.
It also begs the question if Angel Reese should have been a front court representative instead of Jones. While she has strung together a bunch of strong performances since June 10 including her first ever triple-double, Reese struggled mightily with her efficiency for the first month of the season, and her average scoring and rebounding numbers are slightly down from her 2024 All-Star season.
It wasn't surprising to see a Lynx guard selected, but what was surprising was that it wasn't McBride. Before the Lynx's game yesterday afternoon against the Sky, which was on a back-to-back, McBride was putting together a historic season, shooting over 50% from the field, over 40% from three and over 90% from the line while averaging almost 15 points a game.
While Courtney Williams' averages of 13.5 points and 5.9 assists are impressive, McBride has been averaging +12 plus-minus to Williams' +7.7 in addition to being Minnesota's second leading scorer behind Collier. It's also worth noting that Williams had two games this season where she didn't make a single field goal.
Lynx head coach Reeve alluded to her team deserving more than two All-Stars, and there's an argument to be made that besides MVP candidate Collier, it's been Alanna Smith that steps up in critical periods. When Collier didn't play on June 24 against the Mystics, Smith led the team in scoring with 26 points, five rebounds and six blocks.
Smith's numbers are quite similar to first time All-Star selection Iriafen. Smith's scoring sits below Iriafen's, averaging 12.3 ppg to Smith's 10.1, and Iriafen also averages more rebounds (8.3 to 5.3). But, Smith averages greater efficiency shooting and more assists (2.9 to 1.3) than the rookie. Iriafen has also seen a decrease in minutes and efficiency following Shakira Austin's reintroduction to the Mystics' starting lineup.
Luck hasn't been very generous to the Liberty's 2024 WNBA Finals MVP in Jones. Before she tweaked her right ankle twice, she was playing at an All-Star level averaging a hair below a double-double, in addition to 2.3 assists and 43.8% from three, the best average in her career since her third season in 2017.
Nothing worse than playing like an All Star and not being one. With that being said thanks to all the people who took the time to vote for me and congratulations to all the All Stars this year 🙏🏾🙌🏾
The case for Jones is when you look at how her team has performed with and without her this entire season. The Liberty are 9-0 when Jones plays and then when Jones has been out, the Liberty are 3-6. With Jones on the floor when she has played, the Liberty have a 29.94 net rating, but when she's been off the floor and not playing, New York's net rating shrinks to 7.44.
While the case against Jones has mainly been the fact that she's only played in nine games so far this season, the same can be said of All-Star captain Clark who only has also played in nine games so far this season. While Clark did receive the top fan vote, shouldn't the reserves be given the same grace as well when it comes to their performance impacting their teams? A scenario I could have seen here could have been that Jones was awarded the designation and then the Commissioner Cathy Engelbert could have named a player in her place.