WNBA All-Star weekend kicks off at Footprint Center with skills and 3-point contests

PHOENIX, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The biggest weekend of the year for women’s basketball is coming to Arizona!

The party started on Friday night with All-Star.

It’s been over ten years since the WNBA All-Star Game was held in Phoenix, at the Footprint Center.

The anticipation for this event was greater than ever this year, thanks to the arrival of new players.

All-Star voting is up 600% from 2023.

Last year, no player received more than 100,000 votes, but this year, Indiana Fever’s Caitlyn Clark alone received more than 700,000.

Clark and Sabrina Ionescu, last year’s three-point contest winner for New York Liberty, opted out of the skills challenge this year.

Imperial Valley resident Cici Costa was not too happy about her favorite players not playing in this game.

“Honestly, I was very disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing them fight, but you know, maybe next time,” Costa said.

Costa, a Calexico resident and current Imperial Valley College (IVC) basketball player, says she had to be at the game Friday night.

For her it was a special sight to be able to experience the development of the game.

“It means a lot to me, you know. It’s really fun. I love playing basketball in my spare time, so it’s really good to see that women’s sports have grown so much,” Costa said.

On Friday, WNBA players got the chance to show off their dribbling, passing and shooting talents.

And in the two individual events it was Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream who took home both trophies.

Gray won the skills and three-point competition, making history as the first player ever to win both.

“It’s really cool. Now I’m glad I accepted the call when they asked me to do both,” Gray said. “Now I get another 55k in my pocket, so I was happy about that.”

For Gray, Friday was also confirmation of how much more interest there is in her competition.

“It’s really cool. I mean, the viewership has definitely gone up at the W and it’s been awesome to see how many people are out there for all the skills challenges, three-point, even the 3×3 exhibition game. It’s really cool, that made me really happy,” Gray continued.

It was a great showcase for the competition and the adrenaline rush continues Saturday when the All-Stars take on Team USA in preparation for their gold-medal quest at the Paris Olympics.