The Guru’s WNBA All-Star Weekend Report: MVP Napheesa Collier (36 Pts.) and her Team Collier Set Scoring Marks in 151-131 Rout of Team (Catlin) Clark

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

INDIANAPOLIS — The dominant player on the dominant team this season in the WNBA remained as such here Saturday night even as the group she captained that showed its force in a record-shattering 151-131 WNBA All-Star game victory before a sellout crowd of 16,988, at the Indiana Fever’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse was a different composition of teammates then Napheesa Collier’s Minnesota Lynx, who have been solidly in first at 20-4 all season.

Collier, herself a former UConn standout, who leads the WNBA with a 23.2 points per game scoring average, easily earned MVP honors, setiing a record with 36 points.

That broke the mark by a basket set last year when Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale scored 34 in a format that saw the USA Olympians suffer a rare upset that came at the hands of remaining top WNBA stars.

This year’s arrangement saw reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark of the local Fever earn captain honors drawing the most fan votes and Collier as the runner-up gain the captaincy of the other squad.

The two then drafted players first from the pool of eight remaining voted starters from the fans and then filling the rosters from a remaining pool of reserves voted by the WNBA’s coaches.

Collier and Clark also traded coaches, enabling Collier’s coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star out of South Jersey, whose Lynx team had the best record, to join her, while New York’s Sandy Brondello off the Liberty’s second-best record at the deadline to determine the picks, went to Team Clark.

The two coaches, who won’t first meet until July 30 in Minneapolis, last faced each other in October when New York in decisive Game 5 of the WNBA finals in overtime nipped the Lynx for the Liberty’s first title in the then 28-year history of the franchise, matching the longevity of the league.

“I tried to make my team not have that many new players,” Collier said of her draft choices. “I’ve played with a lot of them and so it was good to get back with them … some of these new players I haven’t played with before.”

Many on the combined teams were members of the record eighth-straight USA gold medal Olympic team last summer in Paris coached by Reeve and won by a point over host France in the championship contest.

The one thing that went off the rails, with the game given to the Fever whose Clark has accelerated attendance and TV viewership upon her arrival last season, is the all-time NCAA scoring leader out of Iowa who had not missed a game since high school continuing through college and her rookie appearance suffered her third injury this summer Tuesday night with another groin mishap in the win over Connecticut in Boston negating her appearance in Friday’s  3-point contest and Saturday’s game.

Phoenix’ Satou Sabally and Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard also had to be replaced and commissioner Cathy Engelbert filled the  slots with Kayla McBride to substitute for Howard, Brittney Sykes selected to take Clark’s roster spot, and Brionna Jones picked to substitute for Sabally.

Kelsey Mitchell replaced Fever teammate Clark as a starter while Las Vegas’ Jackie Young did likewise for Sabally, the selections made  by Team Clark coach Brondello.

If in the spirit of competition Team Collier could talk about sending Team Clark a message with the lopsided win, an actual serious one was sent during the warmups at a time the weekend arrived in the middle of a contentious new bargaining agreement currently under negotiation as players are looking for a greater share and pay derived from the WNBA’s now booming success through expansion drawing $250 million each from the recently announced teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, growing the league to 18 teams by 2030, and a new multi-billion dollar TV deal that begins next summer.

When the All-Star teams came out on the court following a players’ meeting earlier Saturday morning, they wore T-shirts that said, “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” with the logo of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA).

A record number of more than 40 players attended a first face-to-face meeting here Thursday following the union sending an opening offer last winter after opting out of the existing pact but not hearing a response from the league until last month.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who grew up in South Jersey and played for former Saint Joseph’s star Muffet McGraw prior to McGraw’s Hall of Fame career on the sidelines at Notre Dame, at Saturday’s pre-game media session, said she was optimistic the two sides will shake hands on a “much more lucrative” revenue-sharing model.

That’s one issue the sides are characterized as now far apart.

“We want the same things as the players want,” Engelbert said. “We want to significantly increase their salary and benefits while balancing with our owners their ability to have a path to profitability as well as continued investment.

“I appreciated how many players came to the meeting. I thought that was great,” she said.

Collier, after the game, said of the use of the shirts, “The players are taking this seriously, I think it sends a really strong message that we’re standing really firm in certain areas that we feel really strong that we need to improve on. I think we got the message across.”

As Collier waited to get her MVP trophy afterwards, the crowd began to chant “Pay them more,” while Washington’s Brittney Sykes held up a sign that read “Pay the Players.”

“I feel like I haven’t been able to forget it,” Collier said of Thursday’s meeting and her role as a vice president of the labor union, “because people won’t let us, which is amazing.

“Just the awareness we’ve raised this weekend, you guys asking questions, the fans doing chants, that, like gave me chills.”

This season, Golden State debuted in San Francisco at the shared NBA-Warriors’ Chase Center and has drawn a sellout crowd of 18,000+ at every home game to date causing its valuation to jump over New York’s according to Sportico.

Toronto and Portland join next season, then from 2028 through 2030 in order, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia — the 76ers ownership and Comcast landing the bid — will become active.

Acceleration the points in the game with the use of the 4-point shot, defense was at a premium in the play.

Skylar Diggins, the former Notre Dame standout now with Seattle who came into the league as part of the heralded class headlined by Baylor’s Brittney Griner, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne (now retired), and herself, added to the history-making moments as a member of Team Collier becoming the first to achieve a triple double — 11 points, record tying 11 boards, matching Kayla Thornton reaching the same total Saturday, and 15 assists, which also went into the record books for the event.

“We set a lot of records,” Collier said of the game. “Skylar had a triple-double, which is insane. It was just so fun. We had a  great time.”

Behind Collier, who shot 13-16 from the field and 4-5 from deep, Nneka Ogwumike, the players association president, scored 16, as did reserve Kelsey Plum, Allisha Gray scored 18, Kayla McBride scored 15, Courtney Williams scored 13 points shooting 5-9 from the field, Breanna Stewart scored eight, while overall No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers scored 6, as did Alyssa Thomas and Angel Reese.

On Team Clark, Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell scored 20, shooting 8-13 from the field; Washington rookies Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron scored scored 17 and 11, respectively, Brittney Sykes scored 16, Brionna Jones scored 11, reigning MVP A’ja Wilson was held to 4 in 12 minutes, Gabby Williams scored 16, Sabrina Ionescu scored 12, and  Indiana’s Aliyah Boston scored nine.

With Bueckers, Citron, and Iriafen involved, it’s the first year for multiple rookies appearing in the All-Star game since 2011.

Meanwhile, Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league launched by Collier and Stewart last winter in Florida, at its pop-up headquarters here at the All-Star weekend, on Saturday announced signing of 14 collegiate stars to Name,  Image, Likeness deals headlined by Southern Cal’s JuJu Watkins, who is out with an ACL injury; LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson, and Connecticut’s Azzi Fudd.

Also inked are South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo out of Notre Dame, UConn’s Sarah Strong; TCU’s Olivia Miles, who transferred from Notre Dame; UCLA’s Kiki Rice, and Lauren and Sienna Betts; Texas’  Madison Booker, Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, LSU’s  MiLaysia Fulwiley, who transferred from South Carolina, and the Gamecocks’ Ta’Niya Latson, who transferred from Florida State; and Michigan’s Syla Swords.

Bueckers and LSU’s  Johnson signed NIL deals with the league last season.

“Just seeing from the first year what (Unrivaled) was able  to build, you know it’s only going to get better,” said, Fudd, who was on hand as was Hidalgo and several other collegians, who inked deals.  “I’m super excited.”

The league stretch drive gets under way Tuesday with standings spots tightly packed behind Minnesota’s 3.5 lead over New York (15-6),

Just 2.5 games separate the Liberty above fifth-place Atlanta (13-9) with Phoenix (15-7) and Seattle (14-9) in between.

But also 2.5 games separate Seattle from the seventh-place tandem of Washington (11-11) and Las Vegas (11-11) in the last two playoff spots at a game above expansion Golden State (10-12), with fifth-place Atlanta (13-9), and sixth-place Indiana (12-11) in between.

Tenth-place Los Angeles (8-14) is three behind the playoff berths if the postseason began now, followed by four games back by 11th place Chicago (7-15) and then Dallas (6-17) and Connecticut (3-19).

Ionescu noted that the schedule should be a negotiating point in the labor talks, especially pointing to the WNBA’s last games were Wednesday, participants had to show up in Indianapolis the next day, and now just two days separate the All-Star game and resumption of the season on Tuesday.

Five games are on tap with New  York, welcoming back Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, whose been out a month with a knee injury, greeting Indiana at 8 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN+ just under a week after hosting the Fever previously at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn,

Los Angeles, which routed Washington at home last week, visits the Mystics at 7:30 p.m.  on ESPN3.

Minnesota hosts Chicago at 8 p.m. on ESPN3, Atlanta is at Las Vegas at 10 p.m. on ESPN, and Dallas  is at Seattle at 10 p.m. on ESPN3.

Playing a back-to-back in Wednesday’s sole game, Atlanta visits Phoenix at 10 p.m. on CBSSN and Merc+.