WNBA All-Star Game 2026 preview: how to watch Team Coop vs. Team Spoon in Chicago

The WNBA's midseason showcase lands in Chicago this weekend, and before a single shot goes up it already has a twist worth explaining. The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game is set for Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. ET at the United Center, per the WNBA. It has not been played yet — so if you have seen a "final score" or an "MVP" for this game, that is either last year's result or a mistake. This is a preview. What is decided is where, when, how to watch, and the unusual way the two teams were built.

For the durable stuff — every recent host city, format, result and MVP in one place — skip to the history explorer below. It is built to answer the question people actually keep asking after the confetti falls: who won, and who was MVP?

When and where is the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game?

• Date: Saturday, July 25, 2026
• Tip-off: 8:30 p.m. ET
• Venue: United Center, Chicago
• TV: ABC
• Stream: the ESPN app and Disney+ (with the ABC broadcast)

All-Star Weekend opened Thursday, July 23, with the WNBA Live fan festival, and the Friday-night skills events — the State Farm 3-Point Contest and the Kia Shooting Stars — precede Saturday's game. Details and start times are on WNBA.com and ESPN.

The format twist: honorary GMs, not player-captains

Here is what makes 2026 different. For several years the All-Star Game has used a player-captains draft — the two top vote-getters pick their squads playground-style. This year the league handed the draft to honorary general managers: Hall of Famers Cynthia Cooper, whose side is Team Coop (coached by Becky Hammon), and Teresa Weatherspoon, whose side is Team Spoon (coached by Cheryl Reeve). The players did not pick their own teams.

The two biggest vote-getters were still split up, just not by their own choosing. Paige Bueckers of Dallas led all players in fan votes (roughly 1,045,051), with Caitlin Clark of Indiana close behind (about 1,023,321). A coin flip sent Bueckers to Team Coop and Clark to Team Spoon, keeping the two on opposite benches. Reporting on the format and vote totals comes from ESPN and CBS Sports.

If you are wondering how the game got here — from East vs. West, to the Olympic-year Team USA vs. Team WNBA matchups, to captain drafts, to this year's GM draft — that evolution is exactly what the explorer below is for.

Who are the starters?

The 10 starters were announced July 2, chosen from fan, player and media voting: Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Olivia Miles, Natasha Howard, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, Jessica Shepard and Gabby Williams. Reserves followed July 7, and the draft itself aired July 15 on ESPN. The two rosters are Team Coop and Team Spoon; the complete, team-by-team lists after the draft are maintained on WNBA.com and ESPN, which is the place to confirm exactly who ended up on each side.

Kahleah Copper in, Kelsey Plum out: the July 23 roster change

The most recent roster news is an injury swap. Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks is out with a lower-leg injury, and the league named Kahleah Copper of the Phoenix Mercury as her injury replacement, placing Copper on Team Coop. It is Copper's fifth All-Star selection — a notable turn given she had been considered a snub when the original rosters came out. The Copper-for-Plum move was reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer on July 23.

Is Caitlin Clark playing? Is she in the 3-Point Contest?

Short version: Clark is on the roster (Team Spoon) and is expected to start — though as with any All-Star, availability should be verified on game day. She is not in the State Farm 3-Point Contest; she declined it. This is worth stating clearly because a lot of search results conflate years: the widely shared story about Clark missing the All-Star Game with a groin injury and being replaced is from 2025, not 2026. In 2025 she was a captain but sat out injured; this year she is slated to play.

The 3-Point Contest itself expands to six shooters for 2026: Azzi Fudd, Marina Mabrey, Rhyne Howard, Bridget Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman and Janelle Salaün. The Kia Shooting Stars event replaces the Skills Challenge this year.

Records and snubs

A couple of milestones and sore spots frame the weekend:

• Nneka Ogwumike's 11th selection ties Diana Taurasi for second-most All-Star nods all-time, behind only Sue Bird's 13.
• Among the notable omissions were Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Sykes — the kind of snubs that, in Copper's case, an injury replacement can quietly undo.

Who won the 2026 game, and who is the MVP?

Neither is known yet. The game is July 25; there is no 2026 result and no 2026 MVP as of this writing, and anyone reporting one before tip-off is wrong. What we can offer is the most recent comparison point: in 2025, at Indianapolis, Team Collier beat Team Clark 151-131, and Napheesa Collier was named MVP after a record 36 points, per ESPN. The explorer below carries that result and the years before it.

The WNBA All-Star history and MVP explorer

This is the part built to last. Search or scan any recent All-Star Game and see the host arena, the format that year, the final score, and who won MVP — with the 2026 row marked TBD until Saturday. It is the quick reference for "wait, who won that year again?" long after this weekend is over.

WNBA All-Star Game History & MVP Explorer

WNBA All-Star Game history and MVP explorer: every year, host, result and MVP

A searchable record of recent WNBA All-Star Games — host city and arena, the year's format, the final result, the game MVP and the MVP's stat line — from the 2018 captains-draft debut through 2025's record night, with the 2026 game in Chicago marked TBD until it is played on July 25.

Search the tableDownload CSV

Year	Host city & arena	Format	Result & score	MVP	MVP stat line	Source
2026	United Center — Chicago	Honorary-GM draft (Team Coop vs. Team Spoon)	TBD — July 25, 2026	TBD — July 25, 2026	—	WNBA.com / ESPN
2025	Gainbridge Fieldhouse — Indianapolis	Player-captains draft (Clark & Collier)	Team Collier 151–131 Team Clark	Napheesa Collier	Record 36 pts on 13-of-16 FG	ESPN
2024	Footprint Center — Phoenix	Team WNBA vs. Team USA (Olympic year)	Team WNBA 117–109 Team USA	Arike Ogunbowale	34 pts, all in the second half	ESPN
2023	Michelob Ultra Arena — Las Vegas	Player-captains draft (Stewart & Wilson)	Team Stewart 143–127 Team Wilson	Jewell Loyd	31 pts, all on 3-pointers	WNBA.com / KTNV
2022	Wintrust Arena — Chicago	Player-captains draft (Wilson & Stewart)	Team Wilson 134–112 Team Stewart	Kelsey Plum	30 pts	CBS Sports
2021	Michelob Ultra Arena — Las Vegas	Team WNBA vs. Team USA (Olympic showcase)	Team WNBA 93–85 Team USA	Arike Ogunbowale	26 pts	CBS Sports
2020	Not held	No game — COVID-19 pandemic	—	—	—	WNBA.com
2019	Mandalay Bay Events Center — Las Vegas	Player-captains draft (Wilson & Delle Donne)	Team Wilson 129–126 Team Delle Donne	Erica Wheeler	25 pts, tied record with 7 threes	CBS Sports
2018	Target Center — Minneapolis	Player-captains draft (1st year of the format)	Team Parker 119–112 Team Delle Donne	Maya Moore	18 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast (3rd career MVP)	WNBA.com / B-Ref

How this is calculated

Each row records a single WNBA All-Star Game as reported by WNBA.com, ESPN, CBS Sports and Basketball-Reference: the host arena and city, the year's format, the final score with the winning team first, the game MVP, and the MVP's reported headline stat line. Scores and stat lines are as reported by those outlets and rounded to whole numbers as reported. The 2026 game had not been played when this table was published, so its result and MVP columns read "TBD — July 25, 2026" and are to be filled in after the game. Years with no game (a pandemic gap in 2020) are shown so the record is honest.

Data as of July 22, 2026 · verified July 22, 2026 · v1

Assumptions, limitations & sources

Assumptions

• · Recent seasons are shown (2018 through 2026). The WNBA All-Star Game dates to 1999; earlier years are not listed in this table.
• · Draft-era team names such as "Team Wilson" or "Team Collier" are the captain- or GM-based sides used that year, not conference or national teams.

Limitations

• · The 2026 result and MVP are not yet known; those cells read "TBD — July 25, 2026" until the game is played and will be updated afterward.
• · Stat lines are the headline figures reported by major outlets and may omit secondary statistics; verify full box scores at WNBA.com or Basketball-Reference.
• · No All-Star Game was held in 2020 (COVID-19), and several earlier Summer Olympic years had no game; the Team USA vs. Team WNBA format appears in Olympic years such as 2021 and 2024.

Sources

• All-Time WNBA All-Star Game Results — WNBA.com, checked July 22, 2026
• WNBA All-Star Game stats history: MVPs, records (Sue Bird, Lisa Leslie and more) — ESPN, checked July 22, 2026
• WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award Winners — Basketball-Reference, checked July 22, 2026
• 2022 WNBA All-Star Game: Team Wilson beats Team Stewart; Kelsey Plum wins All-Star MVP — CBS Sports, checked July 22, 2026
• Napheesa Collier keys WNBA All-Star Game win with record 36 points — ESPN, checked July 22, 2026
• WNBA All-Star 2026 — official weekend and game information — WNBA.com, checked July 22, 2026

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Questions people are asking

When and where is the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game? Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. ET at the United Center in Chicago, per the WNBA.

How can I watch it? On ABC, and streaming via the ESPN app and Disney+. All-Star Weekend opened July 23; the 3-Point Contest and Kia Shooting Stars are the Friday-night events.

What is the format, and who are the "captains"? There are no player-captains this year. Two honorary GMs — Hall of Famers Cynthia Cooper (Team Coop) and Teresa Weatherspoon (Team Spoon) — drafted the teams, coached by Becky Hammon and Cheryl Reeve respectively. A coin flip split the top two vote-getters, sending Bueckers to Team Coop and Clark to Team Spoon.

Who are the starters? Bueckers, Clark, A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Olivia Miles, Natasha Howard, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, Jessica Shepard and Gabby Williams (announced July 2).

What are the full Team Coop and Team Spoon rosters? The starters above plus reserves (announced July 7) were split in the July 15 draft. Because an honest team-by-team list has to reflect the draft and the Copper-for-Plum swap, confirm the complete rosters on WNBA.com or ESPN rather than from memory.

Is Caitlin Clark playing? Is she in the 3-point contest? She is rostered on Team Spoon and expected to start (verify on game day). She is not in the 3-Point Contest — she declined. The story about her missing the game with a groin injury is from 2025, not this year.

Who is injured? Who got snubbed? Kelsey Plum (Sparks) is out with a lower-leg injury; Kahleah Copper (Mercury) replaces her on Team Coop, per the Inquirer. Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Sykes were among the notable snubs.

Who won, and who is the MVP? Not decided — the game is July 25, 2026. For reference, last year Team Collier beat Team Clark 151-131 and Napheesa Collier won MVP with a record 36 points.

The bottom line

The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game is a preview, not a result: Saturday, July 25, 8:30 p.m. ET, United Center, Chicago, on ABC. The wrinkle worth knowing is the GM draft that split Bueckers and Clark onto Team Coop and Team Spoon, and the Copper-for-Plum injury swap that landed a five-time All-Star back in the game. Everything past that — the score, the MVP — happens Saturday. Until then, the history explorer above is the honest scoreboard. This is a developing story.