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What Should You Know About The WNBA All-Star Game?

by Emma Cueto

The fans have voted and the WNBA All-Star game starters have been selected! So basketball fans, get excited. And if you're not a basketball fan, now would be a good time to get excited anyway. Because that's the beauty of an All-Star game — you get to watch some of the best players in the league all on the court at one time and just appreciate the glory of the game.

This year's WNBA All-Star game will be held on Saturday, July 25th in Connecticut. The starters are chosen by fans, who can cast up to ten votes per day and, for the first time this year, could vote for any player in the league. The five players with the most votes from each WNBA conference become the starters for their conference's All-Star team, with league officials picking an additional seven players for each team as reserve players.

This year's reserve players will be announced on Tuesday during the game between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Pheonix Mercury, which will be broadcast on ESPN2.

So what should you know about the players before the big game? Well, all of the athetes are fantastic, but here's a little info about the top five fan favorites from this year's vote.

1. Seimone Augustus

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The number one draft pick of 2006, Seimone Augustus has been a force to be reckoned with throughout her career. She was named Rookie of the Year in 2006, has won two WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, and won Olympic Gold medals with Team USA in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She is also openly gay and recently wed long-time girl friend LaTaya Varner.

2. Tamika Catchings

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Tamika Catchings has played for the WNBA since 2001 and is a nine-time WNBA All-Star. She was voted one of the Top 15 WNBA players of all time in 2011, and has served as president of the WNBA Players Association since 2012. She was also born with a hearing impairment, but didn't let it stop her from chasing her dreams.

She will be playing for the Eastern Conference team in the All-Star game.

3. Maya Moore

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Maya Moore was the #1 draft pick of 2011 and plays for the Minnesota Lynx. She was the WNBA's 2014 Most Valuable Player, and has a career high of 48 points in one game, the second highest in the WNBA. She will be playing for the Western Conference team in the All-Star game.

4. Skylar Diggins

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Skylar Diggins has played for the Tulsa Shock since 2013 after playing point guard for Notre Dame. This is her second time on the WNBA All-Star team and she received the second-most number of votes, but unfortunately, an injury sidelined her earlier this month, and she isn't expected to play for the rest of the season. Unless she's had a miraculous recovery since then, the league will appoint a replacement for her. But she's still a fantastic player who more than deserves the honor.

5. Elena Delle Donne

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Elena Delle Donne was this year's top pick for the All-Star team. She has played for the Chicago Sky since 2013 after a stellar college career at the University of Delaware. She was also the 2013 Rookie of the Year and was the first rookie to ever receive the most votes in the All-Star voting.

This season, she also leads the league in points, scoring an average of 25.8 points per game. Plus she also doesn't have time for sexist nonsense. She will be playing for the Eastern Conference.

Images: Getty Images (5)