WNBA All-Star voting confirms Caitlin Clark's status as one of league's most popular athletes

Who’s the most popular player among fans voting for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game participants? It’s not quite Caitlin Clark, but A’ja Wilson only has the Indiana Fever star beat by a very slim margin.

Wilson may be a back-to-back WNBA Champion with five All-Star appearances and two MVP trophies to her name, but you might be surprised to learn that she’s only 1,346 votes ahead of Clark in the first All-Star ballot return.

WNBA All-Star voting results revealed: Caitlin Clark’s a winner

Here’s the top ten of the first round of WNBA All-Star voting results.

A’ja Wilson, Frontcourt (LVA) – 217,773 votes
Caitlin Clark, Guard (IND) – 216,427
Aliyah Boston, Frontcourt (IND) – 171,864
Breanna Stewart, Frontcourt (NYL) – 151,984
Arike Ogunbowale, Guard (DAL) – 130,838
Sabrina Ionescu, Guard (NYL) – 118,949
Angel Reese, Frontcourt (CHI) – 118,490
Kelsey Plum, Guard (LVA) – 117,217
Napheesa Collier, Frontcourt (MIN) – 103,550
Dearica Hamby, Frontcourt (LAS) – 97,094

Cameron Brink was in 11th place, with 95,728 votes, before the Los Angeles Sparks star rookie suffered an ACL tear this past week.

It’s a bit wild to think that Clark has played in just 16 games in her WNBA career, which pales in comparison to Wilson’s 202 games of experience. Yet, clearly, fans want to see Clark any chance they get. We’ve already seen proof of this just based on the WNBA’s soaring attendance numbers in games she plays in.

Which only begs the question, wouldn’t it be good for women’s basketball to have Clark featured on this year’s Team USA Olympic roster?

Many would argue that she’s just not ready and that other, far more experienced talents deserve a roster spot instead, but these numbers don’t lie, and if Clark was involved, you can bet the U.S. Olympic games ratings would increase too. Unfortunately, there are only 12 roster spots, which means a very good player will be left on the outside looking in, and so far, that means leaving Clark at home.