The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game is fast approaching, with the two All-Star squads set to play on Saturday night. Napheesa Collier and Caitlin Clark are this year's captains, with both players making return trips to the All-Star Game.
But for five players, 2025 will be their first All-Star appearance. From rookies who came out of the gates strong to veteran players who finally found the right situation to star, these five players have impressed this year and earned the right to be called All-Stars.
Here is every first-time WNBA All-Star for 2025.
Gabby Williams - Seattle Storm
Gabby Williams has had a strange WNBA journey. Her play in France — both for its national team and in its domestic league — means this is the first full season we're seeing from her since 2022.
Anyone who watched the Olympics last year knows what Williams is capable of doing, but she's never quite shown it in the WNBA. Not until now, at least. Williams is averaging 13.6 points per game, the best mark of her career, and she leads the league in steals at 2.5 per contest.
You can make a strong argument that Williams has been the best two-way wing in the WNBA this season. She's never been a great shooter, but she's at least proven this year that she can be an average one, and honestly, that's been enough to catapult her into stardom.
Kiki Iriafen - Washington Mystics
Three rookies are in this year's All-Star Game, including a pair from the Washington Mystics.
First up, we have Kiki Iriafen. Once viewed as the top college prospect in this class after Paige Bueckers, Iriafen saw her draft stock fall a bit after failing to show much improvement in her final collegiate season.
Early on this season, it appeared that Iriafen was a future star in this league. At this point, it appears that she's a current star.
The rookie is averaging 12.1 points on 46.3 percent shooting as well as 8.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals per game. She's been a key piece of the Mystics frontcourt.
Sonia Citron - Washington Mystics
The No. 3 overall pick in this year's WNBA Draft was expected to be a very good 3-and-D wing at the next level, but it turns out she might be more than that.
Citron was on fire for the moment she touched the floor, scoring 19 points in her WNBA debut. She's scored in double figures in all but three games this season.
She's been especially dangerous from the outside, shooting 36.3 percent from 3-point range, which has helped Citron rank 16th in the WNBA in points per play at 1.03. She's been very good at working her way to the free-throw line as well.
Paige Bueckers - Dallas Wings
If you'd asked me before the season which players would be first-time All-Stars in 2025, I'd have one very obvious answer, and I'd have been right.
Paige Bueckers isn't just an All-Star, though. She's a starter on Team Collier. Bueckers is having an outstanding rookie year and rightly earned a spot as a starter. Sure, her fan vote popularity contributed to that, but it's also clear that Bueckers is already one of the league's best guards.
While the Wings have struggled this season, the team seems to have found something by putting the ball in Bueckers' hands more than in Arike Ogunbowale's hands, with the team finally finding some recent momentum.
Bueckers is averaging 18.3 points per game, which ranks ninth in the WNBA. She's also in the top 10 in both assists and steals per game. It's been a stellar season from the former UConn star.
Kayla Thornton - Golden State Valkyries
We now get to this year's most surprising first-time All-Star, Kayla Thornton.
The former UTEP Miner has long been one of the best glue players in the WNBA, someone who can come off the bench and do all the dirty work.
After winning a ring in New York last season, Thornton was left unprotected in the expansion draft. Golden State pounced on that, and the veteran forward has responded with her best season to date.
Thornton is averaging 14.8 points per game, as well as 7.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals. All three marks are career highs for Thornton. Her efficiency has been a bit of a concern at times, but she's still been the best player on a surprisingly competitive Golden State team.