Brittney Sykes Drops 20 a Night and Still Got Snubbed. The WNBA All-Star Voting System Has a Problem.

The WNBA dropped its All-Star reserve list Tuesday and somebody in the league office owes Brittney Sykes an apology. Or at least an explanation.

The Toronto Tempo guard is having the best year of her career. Ten years in, averaging a career-high 20.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals. She and Marina Mabrey dragged an expansion team to a 9-11 record in their first season. That’s not nothing.

And she still got left off the team.

Sykes is the headliner in this year’s group of All-Star snubs but she’s not alone. Phoenix Mercury fans are probably still staring at the list wondering what happened to Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper. Thomas is putting up her usual stat-stuffing line: 14.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.5 steals. Copper is sitting at 20.6 points per game, one of the top scorers in the league.

The Mercury are bad. That’s fair. They’ve got eight wins, same as the Sparks, and nobody’s confusing them for contenders. But Dominique Malonga got in from Seattle and the Storm have a worse record than Phoenix. So the whole “you gotta win to get in” argument doesn’t hold water.

Here’s where it gets weird. According to reports, less than half of the WNBA’s players actually submitted ballots for the All-Star Game. Half. That’s not a great look for a league that’s been pushing player empowerment and competitive integrity. If the players don’t vote, the system breaks.

Who made the cut

Nneka Ogwumike is going for the 11th time. No surprise there. Jonquel Jones got her sixth nod. Marina Mabrey and Dominique Malonga are first-timers, which is cool for them. The full reserve list includes Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Courtney Williams, Angel Reese, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.

That’s a solid group. But it’s hard to look at that list and not see a couple names that could’ve been swapped.

New format, same problems

The league changed the format this year. No more team captains. Instead, WNBA legends Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon are acting as general managers. They’ll draft from the player pool. It’s a fun twist but it doesn’t fix the underlying issue.

The All-Star Game is supposed to celebrate the best players in the league. When a player like Sykes is averaging over 20 points for an expansion team and still gets left out, something’s off. Whether it’s the voting system, the selection committee or just bad luck, the optics aren’t great.

The game is at the United Center in Chicago. Cooper and Weatherspoon will build their rosters from the pool of selected players. Sykes, Thomas and Copper will be watching from home.