A few days ago, readers of Beyond The W may have noticed a column listing Las Vegas as a suitable site for next year’s All-Star Game. From its status as an international tourist attraction to the way Sin City has embraced the Las Vegas Aces to the fullest to the resources MGM has put into ensuring the Aces are a success. Las Vegas made almost too much sense.
Twenty-four hours later at the All-Star Game in Minneapolis… (*Superfriends narrator voice*)
WNBA President Lisa Borders announces the location of the 2019 All-Star Game: LAS VEGAS! pic.twitter.com/lhTN3s4wpD
— The W Podcast (@theWpodcast_) July 28, 2018
The trend continues – three All-Star Games in the Lisa Borders era and three All-Star Games being held in cities that previously had never had them.
With the All-Star Game prepared to head to Vegas next July, it is not the first a pro hoops All-Star Game has taken place in the place where “what happens….stays….”
The 2007 NBA All-Star Game was held at the Thomas and Mack Center.
In Las Vegas, putting on a show is what we do and next summer will be no different. We expect to provide the WNBA players and fans with an experience like nothing they have seen before.
— Bill Laimbeer, Aces head coach/president of Basketball Operations
Already thinking about 2019 #WNBAAllStar?
We know @_ajawilson22 of the hosting @LVAces is! 🔊 pic.twitter.com/VFeU42Ediu
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 28, 2018
At the post-game presser for this year’s All-Star Game, this year’s team captains – the Los Angeles Sparks’ Candace Parker and the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne quipped that the Vegas location could bring about a different method for selecting the players for both teams.
I don’t know if it’ll matter. Kidding, of course. I think there will be a different method of picking if we know the All-Star Game is in Vegas.
–Candace Parker
Yeah, definitely a different method of picking. Who’s going to hitting the streets is how we’re going to be picking.
–Elena Delle Donne
Photo Credit: Steve Freeman/NBAE/Getty Images
In addition to the 2019 All-Star Game announcement, Borders gave a brief assessment on the ongoing questions surrounding the New York Liberty – in terms of future ownership and their current White Plains home court.
She kept her comments on that matter relatively short – mentioning the “intimacy” of the 2,300-seat venue and comparing it to Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke – Borders’ alma mater.
Mr. Dolan and his team have told us that they are committed to selling the team and making sure that they have a good steward to hand it off to to play in New York.
I’m going to leave the updates on the team sale to the MSG family, but we are very pleased with what has been done and what we anticipate will be done by the MSG family.
