One of the themes of the 2025 WNBA season has been the redemption tour that the Minnesota Lynx have embarked on.
Following a heartbreaking loss in last season’s WNBA Finals to the New York Liberty, coach Cheryl Reeve’s Lynx posted the best record in the W at the All-Star break, standing atop the WNBA standings at 20-4.
Three from the Lynx were named All-Stars for this year’s version – Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride and resident Stud Bud Courtney Williams. Reeve was also the coach of Team Collier after Phee and Caitlin Clark swapped Reeve and Sandy Brondello as coaches.
Typically, the All-Star break is a chance for our 13 teams to earn some much-needed rest and relaxation. For the face of the Minnesota franchise, it was an opportunity to continue the revenge tour.
Collier is the front-runner for the regular season MVP award. We know she will have at least one MVP award from the 2025 season following a 36-point, nine-rebound, one-steal performance to lead Team Collier to a 151-131 victory over Team Clark.
Saturday night’s matchup concluded as the highest scoring All-Star Game in history. The two teams combined for a grand total of 282 points.
It also is the fourth consecutive All-Star Game where an individual scoring was set. In 2022 at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena, Kelsey Plum tallied 30 points (plus MVP honors) in a 134-112 victory for Team (A’ja) Wilson over Team (Breanna) Stewart.
The following year at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Jewell Loyd bested Plum by one with a 31-point performance (plus MVP honors) in another Team Stewart vs. Team Wilson contest. Team Stewart got the better of Team Wilson that matchup with the scoreboard reading 143-127 at the contest’s close.
In 2024, a more competitive All-Star Game took place given it was an Olympic year and the format was Team USA vs. Team WNBA. The latter team got the better of the Stars and Stripes with the final being 117-109. Arike Ogunbowale – who also claimed MVP in 2021’s All-Star Game when it was also contested under the Team USA vs. Team WNBA format – dropped 34 points en route to that game’s MVP award.
July 19, 2025 was a banner evening for Collier and it was also a banner evening for Skylar Diggins. She played 21 minutes while scoring 11 points, hauling in 11 rebounds and dishing out 15 assists. Diggins became the first player in WNBA All-Star Game history to record a triple-double.
Team Collier had All-Star performances up and down its lineup. One of those was courtesy of Allisha Gray, who was the previous night’s 3-Point Contest runner-up to eventual champion Sabrina Ionescu. Gray scored 18 points.
Team Collier also benefitted from a pair of 16-point performances. One was courtesy of Plum and the other was courtesy of Nneka Ogwumike. Ogwumike’s performance also included seven rebounds and three assists. As for Plum, she brought down five rebounds, dished out three assists and collected one steal.
The Lynx connection of McBride and Williams added 15 and 13 points, respectively. McBride finished with three rebounds and Williams sent out five assists.
The leading scorer for Team Clark was Clark’s Indiana Fever teammate – Kelsey Mitchell. She scored 20 points with two steals – as well as two assists and two rebounds. Kiki Iriafen had herself one emphatic All-Star debut as the Washington Mystics rookie scored 17 points and brought down 10 rebounds along with collecting a pair of steals.
Iriafen’s Mystics teammate Brittney Sykes – a late addition to the All-Star pool – helped the Team Clark cause with 16 points, seven assists and three rebounds. Another who also scored 16 points was Gabby Williams. She also distributed five assists as part of her All-Star performance.
Kayla Thornton – the first-ever Golden State Valkyries representative in All-Star Game history – displayed exactly why the Valks have been one of the surprise stories of the 2025 WNBA campaign. Thornton concluded her evening with a double-double of 15 points plus 11 rebounds as well as five assists and one steal.
Ionescu followed up her second 3-Point Contest victory from the previous night with a 12-point performance for Team Clark. There were also a pair of 11-point performances. One was courtesy of Brionna Jones – another late addition to the All-Star lineup – and the other was courtesy of Mystics rookie Sonia Citron.
Jones also brought down three rebounds and sent out three assists. Citron’s performance included two rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Outside of the game itself, the ongoing collective bargaining stalemate was front and center throughout this year’s All-Star weekend. Players came out of a Thursday meeting sounding pessimistic about progress on a new CBA while commissioner Cathy Engelbert used words such as “productive” and “constructive” to describe negotiations.
During pregame warmups, players wore black shirts that said “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” After the game’s conclusion, fans in the stands at Gainbridge Fieldhouse chanted “Pay Them! Pay Them!” as Engelbert introduced Collier as the game’s MVP.
Signs were also seen throughout the arena that said “Pay The Players.”
