NEW YORK (AP) — WNBA All-Star draft picks Aja Wilson and Brea Stewart are about picking their current and former teammates.
Wilson took fellow Las Vegas Aces Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young with her first two picks in the draft on Saturday. She’s drafted Kelsey Plum as her best backup option, and has kept all four Aces players together for the game to be played in Las Vegas next Saturday. Wilson’s team will be coached by Becky Hammon.
“I mean, listen, you have to have a great point guard when it comes to games like that and I feel like they’re going to be great,” Wilson said of Gray. “You’ll drop a dime everywhere, you’ll get us in the flow. That’s what makes a good team great, a good keeper, so I had to go with Chelsea.”
Stewart captured the New York backcourt from Courtney Vandersloot and Sabrina Ionescu with her two best reserves draft picks. Brittney Griner made her #1 pick overall in the draft. Griner is making it back to the All-Star Game a year after she was made an honorary selection She was arrested in Russia.
“BG is my pick just because it’s the way she continues to carry herself on and off the field,” Stewart said. “I think we can all say it’s admirable what she does and she’s such a dominant presence inside. We need her plunges, we need her energy, we need her everything.”
Both Wilson and Stewart stuck to selecting players who either played with them or went to the same college as possible in the draft. Wilson took on South Carolina Gamecocks alumni Aliyah Boston and Alisha Gray.
Stewart drafted former Seattle classmates Jewell Lloyd and Izzy Magpigur. The New York Liberty star also drafted former UConn teammate Naphessa Collier.
Other players drafted by Wilson include freshman Ariki Ogonboal and reserves Alyssa Thomas, Diwana Bonner, Sean Parker and Elena Delle Donne.
Stewart’s team also includes starters Satou Sabally and Nneka Ogwumike and reserves Kelsey Mitchell and Kahleah Copper.
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