The three-time WNBA champ believes the All-Stars missed a chance to make a statement with their play in Indianapolis.
The t-shirts said “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” But did the All-Star Game effort match the message?
That was the question posed this week on the Post Moves podcast, where Candace Parker and Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston offered very different takes on the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game.
“Y’all cannot come out there with those shirts of ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us,’ and then do that in the All-Star Game,” Parker said.
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Boston, who played in the game just two days after back-to-back road matchups with the Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty, wasn’t having it.
“No, no, no, no,” Boston jumped in. “Here’s the thing. We come out every single night, and we show why we deserve the money we deserve. An All-Star Game — an All-Star Game where, when we have another game in two days — I think that is okay to just go out there and hoop and have some fun. Because on Tuesday, we were back at it, and we were playing, and we were showing once again why we deserve to get paid.”
Candace Parker
(Getty Images)
She’s not wrong. The Fever had a brutal schedule that week: two games on the East Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, travel on Thursday, media events and the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest on Friday, then the All-Star Game on Saturday — with practice scheduled immediately on Sunday morning. Several other teams had similar grinds leading into the “break.”
Still, Parker believes the All-Star Game was a missed opportunity to deliver a strong message, not just with T-shirts but with performance and entertainment.
“I think on one of the biggest stages, with people tuned in, in an All-Star setting that I was invested in more than any other All-Star Game previously — without Caitlin Clark, right, she was not playing — I think it was an opportunity to really go out there,” Parker said.
“It’s not going to subtract anything. But I think the narrative on Monday would have been, ‘Well, how come the guys don’t play in the All-Star Game? How come these ladies come out there, and they hoop, and they understand the responsibility?’ Like, I just think that it would have really maximized the moment of wearing the shirt along with giving the product.”
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But instead?
“I tried to watch the All-Star Game, I’ll be honest,” Parker said. “But after one slow Euro step and people pulling up for them, I was like, I can’t. I’m a fan of the WNBA, and I can’t watch this.”
Her final verdict: “No, you all didn’t have to. But I think it was an opportunity that you could have built on — like more momentum, if that makes sense.”
Boston didn’t disagree. But she also made clear that no one (in any sport) is out there, going all out, playing defense and risking injury in an All-Star Game.
True. The NBA All-Star Game routinely turns into a glorified layup line and dudes launching threes from half-court. MLB All-Stars are out there laughing, goofing off and settling disputes with derby-style swing-offs. The Pro Bowl no longer involves tackling.
And if we’re being honest, nobody expected anything different from the WNBA. All-Star games are made for photo ops and performative highlight reels.
So maybe Parker’s right that there was an opportunity missed. And maybe Boston’s right that the league doesn’t give the players enough time to breathe. But there’s one thing we can probably all agree on:
All-Star games are completely pointless.
