WNBA All-Star Game In Las Vegas Will Be Filled With Aces Players On Both Teams During This Olympic Year
By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer is going to have an interesting summer to say the least.
Five of his Las Vegas Aces players will be part of Olympic rosters for three different countries.
And before that happens, four Aces players will face off against each other as part of a unique WNBA All-Star Game that is scheduled for Las Vegas on July 14.
So, follow along. Aces center Liz Cambage and forward Dearica Hamby were named to the 2021 WNBA All Star Team Wednesday afternoon, which will take place at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.
Instead of a conventional All-Star game where fans voted for the WNBA players, this year’s format features a group of WNBA All-Stars playing the USA Basketball Women’s National Team, which is bound for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics slated to start at the end of July.
Cambage (an Australian Olympic team player) and Hamby are part of the WNBA All-Star team, while Aces teammates A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray are members of the US women’s team that will play in the Tokyo Olympics. (Aces guard Kelsey Plum will play on the USA 3X3 team).
Tickets are on sale for the game.
As of Wednesday, MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay property and is the former owner of the Aces, said it contacted the WNBA about how many fans will be allowed to attend the All-Star game at Michelob Ultra Arena.
The WNBA has been the most restrictive league in limiting attendance for its season. Thus far, only season ticket holders have been permitted to attend Aces Games. As a result, the crowds have been small compared to Golden Knights hockey or even Las Vegas Aviators baseball games.
For this year’s All-Star-Game, the top 36 vote-getters from that voting process who are not members of the USA Basketball 5×5 roster were provided to WNBA head coaches. They picked 12 players from that list to play for the WNBA All-Star team. Coaches were permitted to vote for players from their own team.
The format for selecting team coaches has been changed as well. Co-head coaches of Team WNBA will be WNBA legends Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.
The USA national team will hold training camp in Las Vegas in July. For ticket information for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2021, log on to wnba.com/allstar.
