Angel Reese said the fever around the All-Star Game starters did not match the result for the Atlanta Dream. No Dream players made the starter list when the league released the selections on Thursday.
Reese said the omission of Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray was “disrespectful.” She added, “We’re not first in the conference by just anything,” after Atlanta reached Thursday tied atop the Eastern Conference at 12-8.
Thursday and Reese
The starters were determined by a weighted vote that split 50 percent to fans, 25 percent to players, and 25 percent to selected media. That structure left Howard and Gray outside the cut even though Howard ranked in the top four in media and player voting and Gray finished seventh in fan voting, eighth by media, and sixth by players.
Reese also placed sixth across the board, but she was the first player out among frontcourt players. The Dream backcourt duo missed the cut with the fifth- and sixth-highest voting scores among guards, while Howard led the league with 2.5 steals per game and ranked second with 3.2 3-pointers per game.
Atlanta Dream starters
Reese said, “For those two, though, I think they work so hard, and they put a lot of work in, and the way that they’re guarded every game and they (have to) adjust. The reason why we’re where we are is because of those two.” She added that she had been quiet in the media this year because “it’s been tough for me over the last two years,” but said it mattered to speak for teammates who do not always speak for themselves.
She also said, “I know the work they put in,” and, “I know the reason why I’m in Atlanta is because of them.” Reese has 12 double-doubles and leads with 11.6 rebounds per game, while Howard and Gray have each been All-Stars three times. The Dream’s standing and the vote math put their exclusion in sharp contrast.
WNBA starter vote
Wednesday’s starter announcements included Olivia Miles, Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Mitchell, and Caitlin Clark among guards, and Breanna Stewart, Jessica Shepard, A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, Gabby Williams, and Natasha Howard among frontcourt players. Indiana Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark both made the list, and only two teams have two players averaging at least 20 points this season: the Indiana Fever, with Mitchell at 21.6 points and Clark at 21.2, and the Toronto Tempo, with Marina Mabrey at 21.2 and Brittney Sykes at 20.1.
Reese closed her remarks by saying, “For us not to have anyone was just a slap in the face,” and, “But it’s a very big shocker to see that none of us were starters, especially where we are as a team in the league.” The vote totals explain how the Dream were left out; the broader dispute is over whether the weighted system should have produced a different result for a team tied for first.
