Iriafen ranked 6th in the frontcourt player fan vote. But she ranked eighth in the media and player vote. The rookie post was also 11th in overall player voting.
On Monday, the WNBA released the complete list of starters for the 2025 All-Star Game. No Washington Mystics players made the cut which was expected due to two reasons.
First, they don’t have a player who is a brand name superstar. And second, rookie forward Kiki Iriafen, narrowly missed the starter cut because of the “WNBA Electoral College” (from hereon, the Electoral College.” The Electoral College made up of a combination of fan (50 percent), media and player voting (25 percent each for the latter two).
What were the final frontcourt fan voting rankings?
Among all frontcourt players, the top six in fan voteing were:
- Napheesa Collier – 1,176,020
- Aliyah Boston – 1,174,669
- A’ja Wilson – 986,662
- Breanna Stewart – 972,434
- Angel Reese – 506,741
- Kiki Iriafen – 487,035
Iriafen finished sixth in fan frontcourt voting but eighth in the media and player vote. If the Electoral College didn’t exist, she would have been named an All-Star starter.
Still, it’s a huge achievement for a rookie on a team that wasn’t expected to draw very much national attention. That said, Iriafen was one of the biggest college basketball stars in the country in 2024-25, is still playing well as a WNBA rookie, and that name recognition has helped her standing here.
Brittney Sykes, however got HELPED by the WNBA Electoral College because of her rank in the
That said, star players who are not named Caitlin Clark can get helped by the Electoral College. And for a team like the Mystics, the Electoral College helped one of them: Brittney Sykes.
Sykes ranked 12th in fan voting among guards but was sixth in the media vote and seventh in the player vote. This gave her an overall ranking of 8th.
Only four guards make the All-Star Game as a starter. With Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark ranking first and second respectively in the Electoral College due to their sky high fan vote rankings (and their play of course), there were effectively only two spots up for grabs.
Mystics Players in the fan vote Top 40
Three Mystics players made the league-wide fan vote leaderboard:
- Kiki Iriafen – 6th among frontcourt players, 11th overall, 487,035 votes
- Brittney Sykes – 28th overall, 204,028 votes
- Sonia Citron – 35th overall, 148,202 votes
All three earned recognition from fans across the league, showing that Mystics players are starting to break through the noise despite a losing record and a relative lack of star power.
Will the Mystics have All-Stars at all?
In short, I think there’s a good chance Washington gets one.
The head coaches get to vote for the reserves. But keep in mind that unlike the starter voting process, Washington head coach Sydney Johnson cannot vote for his own players.
Sykes has a good shot to be named an All-Star. There’s a good chance that Iriafen could as well given how the media and player vote went. The other coaches have to give them a nod. Citron has been scoring a lot of points (15.1 points per game), but given these initial rankings, it will be a stretch to see her on the team, though I wouldn’t mind.
The final list of reserves will be released on July 6 at 12 p.m. ET.
In short, Kiki Iriafen would have been a starter if the fan vote was the only part that counted — AND most WNBA All-Star Games were that way historically. But she’s earned national respect and is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about young stars in the WNBA. Sykes and Citron also showed up on the radar, underscoring that the Mystics may be rebuilding—but they’re far from irrelevant.