Analysis

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Season 30 Stretch Run: One Thing to Watch for Each Team

All-Star 2026

Following <a href="https://www.wnba.com/news/rapid-reactions-2026-wnba-all-star-friday-night">a fun first night</a> for the WNBA that featured the first rookie win in the 3-point contest and a showcase of high school talent set to hit the college basketball scene, the All-Star Game offered another great stage for the league’s best talent from this season so far. 
Team Coop (selected and coached by WNBA legend Cynthia Cooper-Dyke) and Team Spoon (selected and coached by WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon) had only the best of the best at their disposal in this year’s straightforward contest. No 4-point shot, no fourth-quarter antics, and just a straight shootout between the two squads gave fans a fun game and an eventual Team Spoon victory. 
And, yes, some defense was played. 
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<h2>Marina Mabrey Redemption in First Half</h2>
<div id="attachment_267256" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-267256" class="wp-image-267256" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287653005-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" />Marina Mabrey #3 of Team Coop</div>
After a disappointing outing from Mabrey in the 3-point contest the night before, she came out firing in the first half of the All-Star game to keep pace with Caitlin Clark’s barrage for Team Spoon on the other end. The star Toronto Tempo guard finished up the game with 21 points in 23 minutes, and with five three-pointers on 14 attempts, and all five makes were in the first half. 
It almost hinted at a potential MVP for Mabrey, which would’ve been great to see for an expansion team star, but she unfortunately cooled off in the second half of the contest. Still, logo Mabrey threes were raining, and her presence on the floor was entertaining for that fact alone. 
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<h2>Malonga Records Dunk, First Since 2022</h2>
With Malonga &#8211; the youngest member of an All-Star game to record a double-double &#8211; you’re always going to anticipate a setup for a dunk in as open of a run as this game offers. Yes, defense is cool, and defending the rim is always a nice setup for, at least, some blocking highlights in the game. But, an even cooler event is simply letting Malonga get free for an open run at the basket for a dunk. 
Thankfully, Team Spoon let that go down. Angel Reese set Malonga up for a perfect drive and dunk, and the entirety of Wintrust Arena erupted right after. It was the first dunk since Fowles recorded one back in 2022, so it felt a little overdue. It was her only one of the night, despite multiple attempts to get her more free looks at the rim, but the one dunk was more than enough. 
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<h2>Team Coop, Spoon (attempting to) rain 3s</h2>
127 three pointers attempted, and just 41 made, made up a large chunk of the All-Star game’s offense this year. As mentioned, there were plenty of attempts to get more dunks for Malonga, and it’s not like teams weren’t getting into the paint at all. But, it felt like every other attempt on offense from either team came from three-point range, which slowed things down a bit and made rebounding far more important for guards than for the bigs on the floor. 
Obviously, with players like Clark, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Mabrey on the floor, you can’t help but expect to see a lot of threes attempted. Clearly, both teams wanted to lean heavily into that strength on this year’s All-Star rosters, and the results varied. Heaters from Mabrey, Clark, Howard, Gray, and briefly Jonquel Jones helped to make this many attempts feel purposeful. 
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<h2>Jonquel Jones collecting another MVP award</h2>
<div id="attachment_267257" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-267257" class="wp-image-267257" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2026/07/GettyImages-2287657974-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" />Jonquel Jones #35 of Team Spoon</div>
2021 MVP, 2023 Commissioner’s Cup MVP, 2024 Finals MVP, and now 2026 All-Star Game MVP. A clean sweep. 
Jones’ accolades keep stacking up amid her 11th season in the WNBA. The New York Liberty center finished with 22 points on 8-17 shooting, along with four made threes, 13 rebounds, and eight assists en route to the MVP nod. She took over for Team Spoon in the second half of the contest, looking like the dual threat that Liberty and Connecticut Sun fans are accustomed to seeing. 
Some other potential candidates for the award &#8211; Clark, Mabrey, and rookie Olivia Miles &#8211; got just a bit overshadowed by Jones’ dominance down the stretch.

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