WNBA All-Star captains Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier have made their final selections.
The duo – who earned the most fan votes – joined ESPN’s Malika Andrews on WNBA Countdown to draft their teams for the game.
Clark and Collier were selected as the 2025 WNBA All-Star captainsGettyWhilst it came as no surprise that each captain took their own teammates to begin the process, what did come as a shock was the announcement from the Indiana Fever star that the pair had agreed to make a trade involving the coaches.
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was assigned to ‘Team Clark’ and New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello to ‘Team Collier’.
The two coaches were named the All-Star coaches for 2025 after having each taken their teams to the WNBA Finals last season.
In a shocking turn of events, having been asked by Andrews whether they’d like to make any squad trades after they had finished handpicking their teams, Clark went off-script and demanded a trade of coaches in a WNBA-first.
“I don’t know if this is in the rules,” Clark said with a smirk. “I don’t really care.
“But I think we have already discussed that we are going to trade coaches. Phee [Napheesa] is going to take her coach. Sandy Brondello, let’s get it. It’s going to be amazing “
“Sorry WNBA if that’s not in the rules. Sorry ESPN if that’s not in the rules. But we’ve just made it a rule.
“So Sandy Brondello, come on over. Let’s get to it. You can coach Sabrina [Ionescu].”
When Collier was asked whether she agreed to the trade terms, the front-runner for the 2025 WNBA MVP talked the talk with confidence and fired warning shots at Team Clark.
“I agree with the trade,” Collier said. “I love Cheryl, she’s my coach here [at the Lynx].
Clark was hyped about her All-Star selections and the granted request to trade coachesYoutube: WNBA All-Star captains Clark and Collier hand-picked their rostersX:@WNBA“You know what? That’s just going to be worse for Team Clark because now we’ve got more chemistry on our side.”
“We’ve got more synergy. We know what we expect from each other, so that was a bad move on your part Caitlin. We’re taking you down.”
Though it makes sense that Collier would want Reeve as her All-Star team coach, Clark perhaps had an ulterior motive when discussing the possibility of doing the swap.
Reeve, who led Team USA to gold medal glory at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been vocal about Clark in the past and the two share a somewhat hostile history.
It all began in the former Iowa star’s rookie season, when the Fever all of a sudden saw most of their games being selected for national broadcast.
Reeve appeared to take issue with the spotlight being on Clark and the Fever and wrote, in a set of resurfaced tweets, via sportscaster Christine Brennan, from her account in May 2024, including a hashtag that read “The W is more than one player.”
Clark was snubbed of a Team USA spot for the 2024 Paris OlympicsGetty Lynx head coach Reeve has been critical of Clark in the pastGettyThere was then the debacle surrounding the Olympics roster snub.
Despite only being a rookie, Clark was touted to be in contention for a roster spot, but ended up not being selected for Paris by the selection committee.
On this occasion, however, Reeve admitted that she did not have full control over the final roster selection.
She shouldered the blame from fans anyway, with some not entirely buying it, and Brennan even called for her job.
“Just stunningly bad behavior by Cheryl Reeve, tweeting at and about Caitlin Clark, kind of blaming her for not having Minnesota Lynx games on TV, but only Caitlin games on TV,” Brennan said on The Adam Gold Show on 99.9 The Fan.
“How on earth is that ok with the US Olympic and Paralympic community and the USA basketball team that its coach is actively tweeting and going on social media about someone who is in the selection pool?” Brennan continued.
More recently, Reeve aimed a dig toward the Fever for having three All-Stars selected, with Clark, Aaliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, despite them having a significantly poorer record (9-9) than Minnesota (15-2).
“I don’t know why only Phee and Courtney are All-Stars when you have the best team in the league by a few games,” Reeve said.
“There are teams that are below us in the standings by a lot that have three All-Stars.
“Historically, teams at the top get a minimum of three, oftentimes four. Really disappointing.”
With the tension appearing to be growing, and fuelled further by the Fever defeating the Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup final without their star on the court, Clark seemingly hit back with a subtle dig of her own, aimed in Reeve’s direction.
When speaking about the coaching trade, the two-time All-Star said: “All I know is that Sandy is a defending champion. She loves to shoot threes, and lets her players get after it. So I’m feeling good with Sandy and Sabrina on my team.”
Clark has missed Indiana’s last five games due to a groin injury, but looks set to return to the court on Wednesday against the Golden State Valkyries, where she will face up against her former Iowa teammate, Kate Martin.
The Fever have gone 3-2 in that span, including their maiden Commissioner’s Cup win.
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