Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner named 2023 WNBA All-Star starter

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was named as a starter on Sunday for the 2023 WNBA All-Star game.

All-Star Weekend is set to take place July 14-15 in Las Vegas, the city’s third game in five years.

It has been a down year for the Mercury, who also parted ways with head coach Vanessa Nygaard on Sunday after a 2-10 start to the year.

Griner has averaged 19.1 points per game on 61.8% shooting (the highest percentage of her career), 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.7 assists in nine games during her first year back following her detainment in Russia.

The center leads the team in points, shooting percentage, blocks and offensive rating.

This will be Griner’s ninth All-Star game appearance in 11 seasons played in the league.

The two All-Star teams will be captained by reigning MVP A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, who both received the most fan votes.

Rookie Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever, Satou Sabally of Dallas and Nneka Ogwumike of Los Angeles round out the frontcourt starters.

Las Vegas teammates Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale will start in the backcourt.

The four guards and the six frontcourt players were ranked by position within each of the three voting groups: fan votes, player votes and media panel votes.

The league’s coaches will then select 12 reserves for the game. Coaches could not vote for their own players.

There will be a WNBA All-Star Team Selection Special on July 8 to select the teams.