A'ja Wilson opened the 2026 WNBA All-Star fan vote in first place on June 17, pulling 308,249 votes in the first week of voting and putting herself at the front of the race to start in Chicago on July 25. Caitlin Clark, who led the fan vote in 2024 and 2025, was fifth in the early returns.
The opening standings matter because fan voting makes up half of the All-Star starter selection, with current players and media members each accounting for 25 percent. That means the first returns are not the finish line, but they do show which players have the strongest early push while the vote is still open until 11:59 p.m. ET on June 27.
Paige Bueckers followed Wilson with 298,027 votes, and Aliyah Boston was third with 282,186. Breanna Stewart sat fourth, while Jessica Shepard, Angel Reese, Gabby Williams, Olivia Miles and Kelsey Mitchell completed the top 10. The numbers show a crowded race at the top, even before the full voting window has had time to settle.
Clark’s position stands out because this is not how the last two years began for her. She led fan voting in both 2024 and 2025, when she collected 1,293,526 votes last year, but the first 2026 returns place her behind Wilson, Bueckers, Boston and Stewart. Through Indiana’s first 13 games, Clark has averaged 20.4 points and 8.3 assists per game, production that still keeps her in the conversation even as the early vote says she is not the runaway choice she was before.
There is also a broader pattern at work. Wilson was the leading vote recipient for the 2023 All-Star Game with 95,860 votes, and the early 2026 count puts her back at the center of the discussion. Azzi Fudd was 11th in the first returns and fifth among guards with 148,047 fan votes, while Cameron Brink and Shakira Austin were 10th and 11th in frontcourt voting, showing how much can still shift before ballots close.
The next real marker comes at 11:59 p.m. ET on June 27, when voting ends and the final totals are locked in. Until then, the first returns offer only a snapshot, but they already make one thing clear: Clark is still part of the starter race, just no longer the player setting the pace from the front.
