Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale announced as WNBA All-Star reserve

In a game of stars, Arike Ogunbowale shined the brightest at the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game.

Against the future Olympic Gold Medal-winning Team USA, Ogunbowale dropped 25 points and returned to Dallas with the All-Star Game MVP Award. She will get her chance at an encore in less than two weeks.

The fourth-year guard was named as a reserve for the 2022 All-Star Game, which will be held in Chicago on July 10, on Tuesday.

Ogunbowale enters Tuesday’s slate of games as the No. 3 scorer in the league at 19.5 points per game. She also is also averaging a career-high 3.7 assists, plus 2.9 rebounds. Her play has been particularly impressive of late. Ogunbowale has dropped at least 20 points in seven of Dallas’ last nine games.

The league’s coaches select the All-Star Game reserves, while fans, players and media vote for the starters. Ogunbowale had been the fourth-leading vote getter from the media and players during starter voting, but an 11th place finish in fan voting pushed her out of a potential starting role.

The two teams will be chosen in a draft Saturday by two sets of co-captains. A’ja Wilson and Sue Bird will lead one team while Breanna Stewart and Sylvia Fowles captain the other.

Since her entry into the WNBA in 2019, Ogunbowale has been one of the league’s top young players. But this will be her only second All-Star Game.

There was no All-Star Game during the 2020 bubble season when Ogunbowale would have been a shoo-in. She led the league in scoring and was named first-team All-WNBA at the end of the season.

Missing from the All-Star Game roster is Wings guard Allisha Gray, who is one of the biggest snubs from the midseason showcase.

The former Rookie of the Year has been a consistent performer since she was drafted in 2017. But this year, Gray has taken her game to a new level, embracing the challenge of defending the opposing team’s best player while elevating her offensive game.

She is averaging 14.5 points per game on just 10.7 shot attempts, which is the third fewest among the league’s top 20 scorers. Her 43.0% 3-point percentage is second among players with over three attempts per game and at least 10 games played.

The advanced metrics love Gray, too. She is sixth in the entire WNBA in win shares at 2.8, ahead of six All-Star Game starters. Her offensive rating is second in the league behind Connecticut forward Brionna Jones.

But it wasn’t enough for her to earn an All-Star nod.

The All-Star Game will be played at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday, July 10 starting at noon. The 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge will take place the day before at 2 p.m.

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