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Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier Made Up Their Own Rule During WNBA All-Star Draft

The WNBA All-Star Game is set for Saturday, July 19.

Tyler Lauletta

Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier appear on ESPN during the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game Draft.
Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier appear on ESPN during the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game Draft. / @WNBA / X
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Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier took part in the WNBA All-Star draft on Tuesday night, fulfilling their respective roles as team captains and filling out the rosters of Team Clark and Team Collier for the upcoming big game.

The draft went by largely without fireworks—both Clark and Colllier deferred to drafting their teammates first and foremost—but once the picks were made, ESPN host Malika Andrews opened the floor for potential trades.

Clark and Collier were unable to come to terms on any player trades, with Clark flatly refusing to let go of teammate Aliyah Boston in exchange for Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty, but the duo did agree to a coaching swap ... though they weren’t entirely sure how legal the move was.

“I don’t know if this is in the rules, I don’t really care, but I think we’ve already discussed, we are going to trade coaches,” Clark explained. “Phee is going to take her coach; Sandy Brondello, let’s get it. Sorry WNBA if that’s not in the rules. Sorry ESPN if that’s not in the rules, but we just made it a rule. Sandy Brondello, come on over let’s get to it.”

The coaches for the WNBA All-Star Game were determined based on the league standings, and before the draft, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was set to coach Team Clark while New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello would coach Team Collier.

Instead, the swap will allow Reeve to coach her Lynx players—Collier and Courtney Williams—in the All-Star Game.

“I love Cheryl. She’s my coach here,” Collier explained, before delivering some playful trash talk. “That’s just going to be worse for Team Clark, because now we’ve got more chemistry on our side, more synergy. We know what we expect from each other. That was a bad move on your part Caitlin, we’re taking you down.”

The WNBA All-Star Game is set to tip off from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Saturday, July 19.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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