The WNBA’s midseason showcase is officially over after Indianapolis took center stage. The festivities were capped by Team Collier’s 151-131 victory over Team Clark.
From Friday night’s skills competition and 3-point contest to Saturday night’s record-breaking performances, the All-Star Game mostly delivered — even without Caitlin Clark, whose injury prevented her from competing in the events as her Indiana Fever played host. However, there’s always room for improvement.
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Here are the winners and losers from 2025 All-Star Weekend.
Winners
“Stud Budz”
Lynx guards Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman provided fans with a behind-the-scenes look at All-Star festivities. They streamed the entire few days on Twitch, broadcasting everything from conversations in their hotel room to parties to locker room scenes.
Among the highlights:
• “Stud Budz” capturing commissioner Cathy Engelbert dancing to Crime Mob’s “Knuck If You Buck” at a party on Friday night.
• Storm star Nneka Ogwumike walking into Williams’ hotel room Saturday morning to alert her to an upcoming WNBPA meeting.
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• Fever star Aliyah Boston taking a drink away from Clark at a party while Clark was on screen, and Williams providing an almost-instant reaction to Thursday’s CBA meeting.
“‘Stud Budz’ has been the highlight of everybody’s weekend,” Napheesa Collier said.
That’s a sentiment felt by many.
Napheesa Collier
Continuing with the Lynx theme, Collier was the star of Saturday’s All-Star Game. Not only was she efficient, making 13 of her 16 shots en route to setting an All-Star single-game points record, but as captain, she picked a winning team that also set the record for most points. Collier has been one of the two MVP front-runners in the first half of the season, and Minnesota has the league’s best record. Collier continued her positive momentum in Indianapolis with another standout performance.
Unrivaled
Though the women’s basketball world descended to Indy for the All-Star Game, Unrivaled also had a strong presence around the festivities. Saturday was an important day for Unrivaled, as it announced NIL deals with 14 of the top players in college basketball: LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, Sarah Strong, Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles. Strong, Hidalgo, Fudd and Texas’ Madison Booker told reporters they hope to play in the league once they enter the professional ranks, as the upstart winter league continues to show signs of longevity in the basketball landscape. Unrivaled launched last year as a winter professional women’s 3×3 league, co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Collier.
Indianapolis as host
Even amid Clark’s absence from all of the competitions due to injury, downtown Indianapolis was still the epicenter of the women’s basketball world. Fever three-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell assumed the de facto host role, welcoming fans to the game on Saturday, but by that point, the city had already made a strong impression.
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“It was an incredible weekend,” Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum said. “This is my fourth time, and I thought by far it was the most packed, not just from the game standpoint, but 3-point contest, skills contest. The Orange Carpet was live. Every event that I saw that a player was doing was absolutely packed.”
There was WNBA-related signage all over the city — in the airport and on streets — with the city putting up speciality street signs for all 13 teams. It would have been almost impossible to miss the event’s presence.
Sabrina Ionescu’s 3s
Ionescu had 12 points in 20 minutes of All-Star Game action, but her performance on Friday night in the 3-point contest will be one of the lasting memories. She made 11 3s in a row at one point in her final round and dazzled the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd. After becoming only the second multi-time 3-point contest winner, Ionescu called Stephen Curry to celebrate and created a viral moment when discussing what she plans to do with the $60,000 bonus she receives from Aflac and the WNBPA for winning. (She’s going to give half to Mystics rookie Sonia Citron.)
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WNBPA in the spotlight
Players recognized an opportunity and used it to highlight their case for increasing salaries as part of the ongoing CBA negotiations.
They wore shirts during pregame warmups that read, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” During the on-court trophy presentation, fans broke into a “Pay Them” chant, and Mystics guard Brittney Sykes stood behind Engelbert with a sign that said “Pay The Players,” which was clearly visible on the ABC broadcast. For the players, getting this messaging out more broadly is a win.
The talks between the WNBA and the WNBPA loomed over the events. The sides met Thursday afternoon, with more than 40 players — a record, per the WNBPA — at the bargaining session. Liberty star Breanna Stewart characterized the meeting as a “wasted opportunity,” while Plum said the sides still have a “long way to go.”
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Engelbert called the meeting “constructive” and said she still has confidence that a deal can be reached before the Oct. 31 deadline, but the labor situation appears tense.
Losers
Friday night events
Friday night’s events to kick off All-Star Weekend were undoubtedly successful and exciting. Natasha Cloud won the skills challenge and Ionescu won the 3-point contest. However, the two events wrapped up in 70 minutes, leaving a feeling that fans deserved even more. There are more than enough WNBA stars who would be interested and eager to participate in more events. Engelbert acknowledged that change might be coming.
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“We’ll definitely be looking at different ideas, different formats beyond the skills and 3-point (contest),” Englebert said. “We’re going to look at that and hopefully deliver something in the future on that.”
The WNBA has come a long way since broadcasting such events on Friday afternoon of All-Star Weekend, as was the case as recently as 2023, but more can be done. Perhaps the league should copy Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament.
All-Star Game intensity
Welp.
If fans wanted to see a competitive All-Star Game, they should have elected to watch last year’s exhibition between Team USA and the WNBA All-Stars instead of the 2025 showcase. Of course, the formats are different, and last year’s exhibition — won 117-109 by Team WNBA — served as an important tune-up for the U.S. Olympic team before the Paris Games. It’s still hard to avoid comparing the contests, though. Team Collier and Team Clark combined to score 142 first-half points on Saturday, and Team Collier’s 151 points set an All-Star Game record. Stewart said afterward that the quick turnaround between the first half and the second half of the season contributes to the quality of Saturday’s play.
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“Our game is a little bit competitive, but not as much as you probably want or the viewer wants, but we play on Tuesday, and it’s Saturday,” Stewart said. “So it would be lovely to be able to have a little bit more time to rest and relax, because what we do this weekend is a sprint.”
Most All-Star guards
The streak is finally over!
For the first time since 2013, a guard did not win All-Star MVP. The Athletic asked Plum about the streak before the game. “Don’t jinx it. They get all the love,” she said, while knocking on the floor.
There were some standout guard performances: Skylar Diggins recorded the first triple-double in All-Star Game history, Mitchell scored 20 points and Allisha Gray had 18 points, but Saturday night was about the forwards. In addition to Collier’s performance, Mystics rookie Kiki Iriafen posted a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double; Valkyries All-Star Kayla Thornton had a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double; and Ogwumike scored 16 points to move into second place for most career All-Star points.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA
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