Clark and Reese met for the third time in their professional career Sunday in Chicago

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CHICAGO — The WNBA announced the first returns of fan voting for the 2024 All-Star Game on Friday, and, to little surprise, star rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were both among the leaders. Clark checked in at No. 2 with 216,427 votes, while Reese was No. 7 at 118,490.

This year’s All-Star Game, set for July 20 in Phoenix, features a unique format of Team USA vs. Team WNBA, so any player who gets voted in and is not already on the American Olympic team will automatically be assigned to Team WNBA.

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Thus, if Clark and Reese both make it, they will play together on the same team for the first time.

Fan voting, which concludes on June 29, accounts for 50% of the final tally, while player and media voting have a 25% weight each. The official All-Star rosters will be unveiled on July 3.

Prior to Sunday’s matchup between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, the third professional meeting between the collegiate rivals, Clark spoke about the possibility.

“A lot of hypotheticals,” Clark said. “I think both of us would probably tell you our focus is on playing basketball, and if that works out for the both of us, great, that would be a lot of fun — we’ve never played together.

I guess I don’t really know what all goes into how they select the All-Star team — I’m new to the league. I know fan vote is part of it, but there’s also other criteria, it’s not just fan vote. She’s had a tremendous season, and if that was to happen, I’m sure people would love it.”

The rookie sensations, who were drafted No. 1 (Clark) and No. 7 (Reese) overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft in April, have excelled this season and are the clear favorites for Rookie of the Year.

Clark is averaging 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists, putting her on pace to be the fourth player ever to average at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in a season. She leads all rookies in scoring, assists and 3-pointers made. Among all players, she is fourth in assists and third in 3s.

Reese, who’s tallying 12.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, has  set a new rookie record for consecutive double-doubles with seven. The former LSU star leads all rookies in rebounding and steals, plus she’s first in the league in offensive rebounds by a 20-rebound margin.

Off the court, their star power has helped take the league to new heights. Their most recent meeting on June 16, which was broadcast by CBS, drew 2.252 million average viewers and peaked at nearly three million viewers.

It was the most-watched WNBA game on any network in 23 years and the most-streamed WNBA game ever.