The good, bad and ugly of Indy's WNBA All-Star weekend
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The WNBA painted the town orange this weekend, bringing its All-Star game to the women's sports capital of the world for the first time.
Why it matters: As Indianapolis was working to show the world why it deserves that title, the players of the W were working to show the world why they deserve a pay raise.
Driving the news: Napheesa Collier's team outscored Caitlin Clark's, 151-131 in front of a soldout crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday night.
- The weekend got rave reviews from the players, fans and national media.
Zoom in: Now that the 2025 WNBA All-Star game is in the books, here are the highs and lows from the weekend.
Good
🤩 The All-Star game
The crowd at the All-Star Game Saturday night was great. They were hyped to be there and excited for every star — but none as much as Fever players Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark.
- They went extra crazy for injured Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who made a heart-warming jumbotron appearance in the fourth quarter.
🧐 Visit Indy scavenger hunt
The tourism bureau created an entertaining scavenger hunt around Indianapolis' iconic basketball locales — fun for guests and locals alike! Points collected for each spot visited and checked-in on the app could be traded in for swag.
- Yes, but: Could we maybe have offered a T-shirt size other than just XL?
📸 Downtown activations
The orange carpet and outdoor lounge vibe on Georgia Street was super fun and different — a great use of that pedestrian space.
- Once again, volunteers were out in force to direct visitors and take snaps at all the photo ops.
- Monument Circle was also used to full effect, with local vendors, free activities for kids and plenty of opportunities to shoot hoops.
🫶 Hometown pride
During the skills challenge and 3-point contest on Friday night, the crowd cheered the loudest for former Fever star Erica Wheeler and current Fever guard Lexie Hull.
- Yes, but: The hometown advantage wasn't enough for either of them. Wheeler came in second in the skills challenge, losing to New York Liberty's Natasha Cloud by 1.1 second, and Hull was eliminated in the first round of the 3-point contest.
🎵 The exit music
Fans leaving Gainbridge Friday night heard "Run the World (Girls)" by Beyonce. Is there a song that could be more appropriate? We think not.
🎤 Halftime show
Let her cook! GloRilla's hit has become something of a theme song for the league now that Gatorade has adopted the mantra for the brand's WNBA campaign. Everyone was getting into the rapper's halftime show, including the players.
🖼️ The art and music
Indy's local talent was on display in a big way. The sidewalk galleries were stunning, and when it wasn't raining, there was nonstop live music all over the place.
🤣 The Fever Fest
The inaugural music and comedy mashup at White River Amphitheater was a blast, and Indiana Fever guard Sydney Colson's stand-up debut went over well with the hometown crowd.
- Deon Cole absolutely crushed at as host, but show stealer award goes to Leslie Jones who quickly ditched the show's "no cussing" rule to hilarious results.
- Yes, but: The comedy hit harder than the music. Cedric The Entertainer's set felt like a show-closer, and as a result, a large chunk of the crowd filed out when he ended, and before G-Eazy started.
🤝 Access to the stars
The league's biggest stars were on hand at signings, talks and appearances throughout the weekend, particularly in the packed WNBA Live experience in the Indiana Convention Center.
Bad
🤕 Caitlin Clark out with an injury
Clark is arguably a large reason Indy even got the All-Star event, but she was forced to sit out of the festivities after suffering an injury the week prior.
- Yes, but: She kept a positive attitude.
- "The weekend has been absolutely incredible, and I hope every player in this league, whether you're participating in the game tonight or were in the 3-point competition or skills competition or were just here to enjoy All-Star Weekend ... I hope they felt the same and felt the love from the city," Clark said during a press conference ahead of Saturday's game.
- "Just for myself, it's still been a lot of fun. Obviously, I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to participate ... but still being around and being able to be a part of everything is still really important for myself and for the fans."
- Plus: We got to see Clark in "coach mode."
🚗 Parking
It's a perennial problem with any downtown event but was made more difficult by all the construction (more on that later).
🏟️ The crowd Friday night
Big sections of seats in the lower level at Gainbridge were empty during Friday night's event. Maybe Clark staying on the sidelines kept some folks at home.
🏀 The basketball
It's a function of the All-Star games. No one wants to get hurt and wreck their season — and, fair enough — so the games are known for being unserious shooting fests. Saturday night was no different.
- Yes, but: The players and fans seemed to still be having a good time, and everyone seemed to be generally more into the experience than last year's NBA All-Star game.
Ugly
🤑 League negotiations
The league and player representatives held an in-person bargaining session last week — a continuation of negotiations that have been ongoing since the players opted out of their last collective bargaining agreement in October.
- The status of those negotiations? The shirts players wore during warm-ups Saturday said it all. "Pay us what you owe us."
- The crowd also shouted "pay them" over league commissioner Cathy Engelbert as she presented the MVP trophy after Saturday's game.
🏗️ Downtown construction
Sure, it's a sign of progress. But it's also pretty unsightly.
- Multiple projects along Georgia Street meant large swaths of the center of the action were construction zones, and there's only so much colorful screening can do for a giant pit.
👻 Circle Centre Mall
The mall is now almost entirely empty, and a wall has been constructed, preventing pedestrians from walking from one end to the other and using it as a thoroughfare as it has been in the past.
- This is part of the planned mall redevelopment, but there is little to no signage outside to let visitors know they're about to enter an empty mall. We ran into more than one confused mallgoer.
⛹️♂️ Pedestrian jump shots
The nonprofit Hoop Bus was rolling through Indy all weekend and bringing the hype, but residents shooting on its mobile rim put up enough bricks to build another downtown hotel.