This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Basketball legend Cheryl Miller was named head coach of the WNBA All-Star team that will take on the United States’ women’s national team in a game set for Saturday at Phoenix.
The showcase game is designed as a tune-up for Team USA in advance of the Paris Olympics.
Miller, who coached the Mercury in their first four seasons from 1997-2000, will be joined on the bench by assistant coach Adrian Williams, a former All-Star for the Mercury.
A former Southern California star, Miller was a three-time Naismith Player of the Year (1984-86) and helped the Trojans to NCAA titles in 1983 and 1984. With Team USA, Miller helped earn the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
As head coach of the Mercury, Miller’s teams made the playoffs three times and her 1998 squad finished runner-up in the WNBA Finals.
The WNBA All-Star team will consist of dynamic rookies Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky. Also landing spots on the squad in fan voting were the Fever’s Aliyah Boston, the Los Angeles Sparks’ Dearica Hamby and the Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale.
Among the players on the Team USA squad, to be coached by Cheryl Reeve (also the head coach of the Minnesota Lynx), are the Lynx’s Napheesa Collier, the Mercury’s Kahleah Copper, the New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart and the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young.
–Field Level Media
