Las Vegas Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer and Washington Mystics head coach Mike Thibault have earned spots as the head coaches for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2019.
Laimbeer and Thibault will be joined on the bench by their respective coaching staffs at the 16th WNBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Saturday, July 27 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, home of the Aces. ABC will televise the game live at 3:30 p.m. ET.
With Las Vegas (10-5, .667) having clinched the best record in the WNBA through July 12, Laimbeer will coach the All-Star team captained by Washington’s Elena Delle Donne, the All-Star starter who received the most fan votes in WNBA All-Star Voting 2019 presented by Google. Washington (9-5, .643) is guaranteed to have the second-best record through July 12. As a result, Thibault will guide the All-Star team captained by Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson, the All-Star starter with the second-most votes among fans.
Laimbeer, a two-time WNBA Coach of the Year (2003, 2015), has earned All-Star head coaching honors for the third time. As coach of the Detroit Shock, he led the Eastern Conference past the Western Conference 103-99 in the 2007 All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. As coach of the New York Liberty, his East team lost to the West 130-121 in the 2017 All-Star Game in Seattle.
Thibault, a three-time WNBA Coach of the Year (2006, 2008, 2013), also will serve as an All-Star Game head coach for the third time. As coach of the Connecticut Sun, Thibault’s East team lost to the West 122-99 in the 2005 All-Star Game in Connecticut. One year later, he led the East to a 98-82 win over the West in the 2006 All-Star Game in New York.
The 10 starters for AT&T WNBA All-Star 2019 – announced earlier today on ESPN’s The Jump – were selected by a combination of fans (50 percent of the vote), current WNBA players (25 percent) and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (25 percent). The WNBA’s head coaches will select the 12 reserves, who will be revealed on Monday, July 15.
Delle Donne and Wilson will select their respective rosters in the WNBA All-Star Draft by first choosing from the remaining pool of eight starters and then from the pool of 12 reserves. Additional details about the WNBA All-Star Draft will be announced at a later date.
For ticket information about AT&T WNBA All-Star 2019, fans may visit aces.wnba.com/allstar/.
