WNBA All-Star Game voting: How our experts cast their ballots

The WNBA’s midseason showcase is fast approaching, as the 2023 All-Star Game will be held July 15 in Las Vegas. Although the event marks the midway point of the season, the selection process has to start earlier, so even though it seems as if games have only just begun, ballots for the starters are due Tuesday.

The voting for the starters is split among three parties: Fans account for 50 percent of the vote, players an additional 25 percent and the final 25 percent from the media. The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman had official ballots for the 10 starters, so for the latest edition of Getting Technical, this is our conversation on how they arrived at those decisions.

Merchant: First things first, let’s remind everyone of the rules. We were tasked with selecting 10 All-Star Game starters, regardless of conference, but four have to be backcourt players and six have to be frontcourt players. The WNBA is very flimsy with its delineation between guards and forwards, so a lot of small forwards end up as guards. Keep that in mind when players who start at the three still end up on our backcourt ballots.

The frontcourt was the easier part for me, so let’s start there.

Out of the six, there are four locks for me: Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas and Nneka Ogwumike. I’m not sure if these four will make it as starters because fan vote counts for half, and the fans are not on board with Thomas. Why? I can’t figure it out. She’s indefatigable, defends every position and is altogether freaking awesome. However, they’ll all make the team because the coaches will absolutely select Thomas as a reserve if necessary.

Did those four make your ballot?

Pickman: All four did make my ballot. I think little needs to be said about Stewart (she is No. 1 in Basketball Reference’s win/shares metric while averaging a career-high 23.9 points per game), Wilson (the league’s best defensive player this season, still looking very much like her reigning MVP self) and Thomas (a nearly unstoppable Swiss Army knife who is averaging a near triple-double). Ogwumike was among my six, as well. However, the fourth forward on my ballot was the Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally. Maybe it’s because she’s fully healthy, but through the first 11 games of the season, Sabally has been dominant. She’s recorded eight double-doubles — more than the seven combined she had in her first three professional seasons. She leads the league in rebounding and is fifth in points per game under first-year coach Latricia Trammell. Did you have her on your ballot?

Merchant: Sabally is, in fact, on my ballot. Like you mentioned, her stats jump off the page, and she’s one of only three players averaging a double-double along with Stewart and Thomas. I had a slight preference for Ogwumike because the Sparks rely on Ogwumike more as a hub of their offense, and she’s been more efficient than Sabally (60.1 percent versus 56.8 percent true shooting)….