Dream's Rhyne Howard inexplicably snubbed as WNBA All-Star starter

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Rhyne Howard's omission from the WNBA's list of All-Star Game starters requires something of an investigation.

Howard is one of the league's best two-way players. It is certain that she will be an All-Star reserve, which will mark her fourth All-Star appearance in five seasons since the Atlanta Dream took her first overall in the 2022 draft.

MORE: Angel Reese interaction shows why Rhyne Howard is Dream's quiet leader

But the continued under-appreciation of Howard's game is borne out in the voting breakdown for the All-Star Game, which will take place on July 25 inside Chicago's United Center.

The voting breakdown for WNBA All-Star: pic.twitter.com/9rfSXxUiOb

— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) July 2, 2026

Howard, classified as a guard, placed fifth in the position with a weighted score of 6. That score is the result of a composite between fan, media and player votes.

While Howard's colleagues voted her second among guards, the media voted her fourth and the fans a distant ninth. Added together, she finished behind Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell -- the four guards starting the All-Star Game.

She should’ve never been in the guard group.

She is a 3. She has almost always been a 3.

And even with the incorrect listing, there haven’t been four guards better this year — especially if you know what you’re watching on both ends of the floor.

Shameful omission. Shameful. https://t.co/tjDn6pQB8K

— Nekias (Nuh-KAI-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) July 2, 2026

Howard narrowly ranks fifth among those five players in scoring at 18.6 points per game -- which is still a career-high. She doesn't have Bueckers or Miles' lethal efficiently, nor does she have the assists figures Clark has tallied.

But Howard's 36.7 percentage from 3-point territory is higher than every guard save Mitchell and Bueckers. She leads the WNBA in steals and scores the ball more efficiently than Clark, whose 51.3 percent effective field goal rate is comfortably the worst among these five guards.

The competition was fierce, and it's possible that Howard was mischaracterized as a guard instead of a wing or a small forward. That would be the only plausible explanation for why one of the WNBA's best all-around players isn't starting the All-Star Game.