WNBA All-Star Weekend Best Bets: Caitlin Clark, Marina Mabrey and More

The 30th WNBA All-Star Game tips off at the United Center in Chicago at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

Festivities for the league’s pearl-anniversary All-Star weekend begin a little more than a day earlier, though, with the 3-Point Contest highlighting the events set for adjacent Wintrust Arena beginning at 8 tonight.

Well, adjacent in the major-city sense; the venues stand about five miles apart.

As a batch of “W” standouts aims to connect with their surroundings before a growing fanbase, what would be better than wagering on the proceedings?

Caitlin Clark in the 3-Point Contest, you say? Hey, maybe next year.

Odds are via BetMGM.

3-POINT CONTEST

The All-Star host Chicago Sky play their home games at Wintrust but graced the UC twice last season for the first WNBA contests in arena history.

Toronto Tempo guard Marina Mabrey had moved on from the Sky by then but still is no stranger to Wintrust. She even helped Notre Dame capture the NCAA Women’s Tournament Chicago Regional there on the way to a national runner-up finish in 2018-19.

Mabrey enters the All-Star break as the league leader in made 3s (82). She’s about one month removed from drilling nine 3s while tying the league single-game scoring record of 53 points. That came six days after hitting nine more.

Although Mabrey stumbled to a 1-for-8 effort from deep during the Tempo’s first-half finale Monday, expect her to recalibrate her touch in familiar digs to start her first All-Star appearance in style.

Marina Mabrey to reach 3-Point Contest final (+150)

GAME MVP

Multiple teams shifted games against the Indiana Fever to larger arenas last season to accommodate a clamoring to see Clark, a transcendent star and the top pick in the 2024 Draft.

Injuries kept her from both contests at United Center, however. And no, there weren’t any dustups about the Fever’s injury-report designations.

Saturday marks a showcase event for the league, of course, but it could also serve as a dress rehearsal for Clark ahead of Indiana’s scheduled return to UC on Aug. 8.

Clark has navigated a balky back at times this season but otherwise is enjoying good health. She’s tied for fourth with Mabrey for the league scoring lead (21 points per game) and has the second-highest assists-per-game average at 7.9.

Clark recorded the first 40-point, 10-assist game in “W” history on July 17. See her shoot, pass and rise above the persistent social-media noise to set the tone Saturday night.

Caitlin Clark to win All-Star Game MVP (+600)

GAME TOTALS

The WNBA All-Star Game shifted from the traditional East vs. West format in 2018. That included the 2022 game at Wintrust, in which a team captained by A’ja Wilson defeated one led by Breanna Stewart 134-112.

The game has featured at least 270 combined points twice in the three seasons since. The outlier came in 2024, when the WNBA stars edged their counterparts from the U.S. Women’s National Team 117-109.

With no Olympic-snub tension attached to Team Cynthia Cooper vs. Team Teresa Witherspoon, all signs point to another scorefest.

All-Star Game over 274.5 points (-114)