The U.S. women’s basketball team will get quite the warm-up game for the Olympics.
Just days before they take the court at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Team USA will face the remaining WNBA All-Stars.
That means Caitlin Clark is likely to get a taste of Olympic basketball this year after all. She’ll just be playing against Team USA instead of playing for them.
This will be the second time the U.S. squad has faced WNBA players for an Olympic primer during All-Star weekend. In 2021, Team WNBA defeated the U.S. women’s national team 93-85 in Las Vegas behind an MVP performance by Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale.
This year’s 12-player U.S. team includes stars like A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun — who will look to bring home an eighth consecutive gold medal.
But before heading to Paris, they’ll make a stop at All-Star weekend.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Team USA vs. WNBA All-Stars matchup:
USA Basketball announced a 12-person roster in advance of Paris. The list is full of accolades, but missing the WNBA’s newest star.
The WNBA All-Star Game, which will feature the U.S. women’s basketball team against the WNBA All-Stars, is on Saturday, July 20.
The WNBA All-Star Game will be played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, home of the three-time WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury.
The matchup between the WNBA All-Stars and U.S. women’s basketball team will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The WNBA All-Star Game will air on ABC. It can be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
The festivities at WNBA All-Star weekend will also include the 3-point contest and the skills challenge, which will both be held on Friday, July 19 at the Footprint Center. The events will be broadcasted on ESPN starting at 9 p.m. ET.
Twelve players, regardless of conference, will be voted onto the WNBA All-Star team that will face Team USA.
Fans, who select six frontcourt players and four backcourt players, account for 50% of the voting. The remaining percentage determined by current WNBA players (25%) and media members (25%). Voting concludes on June 29 and the team will be announced on July 2.
Some of the top-10 eligible vote-getters who will be considered WNBA All-Stars will be from the U.S. women’s team. WNBA coaches will then vote for the remaining WNBA All-Stars from a pool of the following 36 highest vote-getters. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their own players.
Here are the 12 players that were named to the U.S. women’s basketball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics:
Here are the top vote getters for the WNBA All-Star Game after the first round of results announced on June 21:
*Indicates a player already named to the USA Women’s National Team 5-on-5 roster, which will compete at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
The U.S. Women’s Olympics Basketball Team will be pursuing their eighth consecutive gold medal in Paris. With the roster full of depth and star talent and Caitlin Clark left off, Kaz Famuyide of Fanatics Sportsbook, discusses why the focus and attention should be on Diana Taurasi, who is going for a record-setting sixth gold.