Sue Bird, Tina Charles among 22 players named WNBA All-Stars

Syosset’s Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm and Tina Charles of the Liberty were among 22 players selected for the pool of participants in the WNBA All-Star Game on July 28 in Minnesota, the league announced on Tuesday night.

The WNBA announced its new All-Star Game format last month, with two captains choosing teams from the pool of players. The captains will be Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks. The captains were supposed to be the two players with the highest vote totals, which would be Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx and Delle Donne. Moore, however, informed the league on Tuesday “that she is unable to perform her captaincy duties at this time.” According to the WNBA, Parker was chosen to replace Moore as a team captain due to finishing third in fan voting.

Bird, in her 16th season with the Storm, will play in her 11th All-Star Game, breaking a tie with Tamika Catchings for the most selections in league history. She is second in the league with 7.1 assists per game, which is also a career high. Bird is also averaging 9.7 points per game.

Charles will play in her sixth All-Star Game. She is averaging 20 points per game, which is fifth in the league, and 7 rebounds per game.

The rest of the All-Stars are: Seimone Augustus of the Minnesota Lynx; DeWanna Bonner of the Phoenix Mercury; Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings; Skyler Diggins-Smith of the Dallas Wings; Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx; Chelsea Gray of the Los Angeles Sparks; Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury; Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm; Kayla McBride of the Las Vegas Aces; Angel McCoughtry of the Atlanta Dream; Chiney Ogwumike of the Connecticut Sun; Nneka Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Sparks; Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky; Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm; Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury; Kristi Toliver of the Washington Mystics; A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces.