Caitlin Clark and 2024 draft class rookies drive 6x surge in WNBA All-Star voting in first wave

The fan voting for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game has experienced a significant surge in interest, largely due to the impact of Caitlin Clark and the rest of the 2024 draft class. According to league data, there were approximately six times more votes in this year’s initial voting phase compared to last year.

Leading in the first wave of returns are Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson and Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark.

Wilson, a two-time MVP and five-time All-Star, secured the top spot with 217,773 votes, currently leading the league in both scoring (27.9 points per game) and rebounding (11.3 per game).

Close behind is Caitlin Clark, the 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick who has drawn unprecedented viewership to the league, with 216,427 votes. Clark is averaging 16.2 points, 6.2 steals and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 33.8% from beyond the arc.

Last year, Wilson also led the first wave of voting with 35,968 votes, with Breanna Stewart in second place at 32,926 votes.

In the full voting results of last year, Wilson had 95,860 votes, Stewart had 87,586, Brittney Griner had 72,637, Aliyah Boston had 72,294 and Jackie Young had 63,262, making up the top five.

These total numbers have already been surpassed in just the first wave of this year’s voting.

The first-wave results of the 2024 All-Star voting also featured Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese in seventh place with 118,490 votes. The CBS broadcast of the Fever-Sky game on June 16 garnered an average of 2.25 million viewers, marking the most-watched WNBA game on any network in 23 years.

ESPN data showed that the average viewership for the first five games of the 2024 WNBA regular season was 1.4 million, more than triple last year's average of 440,000 viewers. Caitlin Clark's debut game for the Indiana Fever attracted 2.1 million viewers, the highest ever for any WNBA game on ESPN platforms.

Caitlin Clark’s teammate in the top 10 for the second straight year

Caitlin Clark's Fever teammate, reigning Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, is third in the first wave of voting with 171,864 votes, which is 148,270 votes more than her first-wave total last year.

Boston is followed by Stewart with 151,984, Arike Ogunbowale with 130,838 and Sabrina Ionescu with 118,949.

Kelsey Plum (117,217), Napheesa Collier (103,550 and Dearica Hamby (97,094) complete the top 10.

The 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, already a sellout at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, home of the three-time WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury, will showcase the league’s top talent on Saturday, July 20.

The full All-Star Game rosters will be announced on Tuesday, July 2.

The league’s 20th All-Star Game will feature a clash between the All-Stars from the USA Basketball Women’s National Team and the WNBA All-Stars voted in by a combination of fan, player, media and coach voting.

All-Stars are selected through fan voting (50%), current WNBA players (25%) and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25%).

After the initial voting, the top 10 vote-getters will automatically participate in the 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game. Any top 10 vote-getter not already on the USA Women’s National Team 5-on-5 roster will join Team WNBA.

The next 36 highest vote-getters, including at least nine guards and 15 frontcourt players, will be considered by the 12 WNBA head coaches to fill the remaining spots for the 12-player Team WNBA roster.