Good Follow - Our WNBA All-Star Ballots: Who made the cut?
29:40 Share

I think you're on mute. Workday starting to sound the same? I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn. With LinkedIn Job Collections, you can browse curated collections by relevant industries and benefits, like FlexPTO or hybrid workplaces, so you can find the right job for you. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash jobs. Finding where you fit. LinkedIn knows how.

Savor every last drop of summer with Starbucks. From bold refreshers to rich cold brews, the sunniest season only gets better with a handcrafted ice beverage in your hand. Available for a limited time. Your summer favorites are ready at Starbucks. You're listening to DraftKings Network. Hey, what's up, everyone? I'm in a great mood. Ooh.

Welcome to Good Follow Show presented by DraftKings. It's me, your girl, Roz Goldenwater. And who are you, young lady? I am Logan Hackett. But first, Roz, when you're doing your little dancey dance, I have to say your nails look phenomenal. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh. I'm in my era in my life. I am in my nail girly journey era. I was such a boring girl who just played ball and like never did my nails. And now I'm like,

doing designs and all the things. And now I talk like this and I'm giving fiesta right now. Okay. These nails say fiesta to me. And the reason why it's a fiesta and it's a party is because we're so excited to have a guest joining us on the show today. Friend to the show, Meadowlark family. You know him from all the shows on Dan Levitard and Allie Oop, our guy, Juju.

Don't I be a good follow serving everybody? What's up, y'all? Happy to be back. Thank y'all for having me back, man. It's such a fun place to be. Where in the world else else would I rather be? Nowhere. Maybe. Maybe. No place I'd rather be. Hey. Da da da da.

all right do you guys not know what that one is that a i'm here to support yeah i'm here to support my song my song uh collection is more of the ghetto dialect so i don't think that's

We're a show of lots of diversity of palates of taste here at Good Follow. Speaking of palates of taste, I got a menu for you. This is an all-star, WNBA all-star voting show. The first returns are in. We're going to have some observations of that. And then for fun, guys, around sometime, by the time you watch this in like a day or so, voting is over. So Juju, Logan, and myself, we're going to build our all-star ballots. I just want to

tap my own shoulder maybe this one yeah because your girl represents good follow good follow has a media vote well not good follow i have a media vote but i represent for good follow in the all-star game so um i am very i take it as a great honor and we'll discuss logan you need a crown for that one a huge honor but y'all just remind everyone the crown can be yours when you tune in to our new episodes that now drop twice

a week one on tuesday one on thursday you can watch on youtube or wherever else you get your podcast but y'all are you ready to get into it we are having some good vibes today i know and i you are being such a good sport like anything we throw at you she's like yes and the crown can be yours

Segway, segway, segway. You're doing great, sweetie. Go on, Logan. Thank you. Well, you know who else is doing great is all the people doing the all-star voting because I'm pretty sure there's record numbers. I've seen it all over my social and it's only open for a few more days. Now, if you don't know, fan votes account for 50% of the vote, whereas current players and media panel, Raws, account for 25% each. Yeah.

So last Friday, the first returns for fan voting came out and there's been a lot of discourse about the results. But y'all, what do you think about the current top 10 standings based on the fan votes?

I mean, look, salute to my sister, Caitlin Clark. But you can tell the Caitlin Clark effect is echoing throughout the fever. I'm looking at I'm looking at a first name and a last name right now that I would have never thought would be up there. I

First name start with an L, last name end with a H, because salute to my sister. But goodness gracious alive. Respect for Lexi Hull. Respect. Respect. She tough, tough as nails. Chase Lechase. But at the same time, wow.

Yeah, you almost got to shout out the Fever fan base, you know, because at least they're super active and engaged. Four players in the top 10. But for me, what stands out, what we don't have shown on the graphic is the numbers of voting participation increasing, honestly, since the last season. And a rising tide lifts all ships. I mean, it's around Kaitlyn Clark. So,

The Kaitlyn Clark effect is real and the league is still growing. So before the 2023 season, the top vote getter was Asia Wilson with guess how many votes? Like just give me a ballpark range. Guess the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. 4,000.

Oh, I was going to say 40,000. That's ridiculous. Logan, you are, if this was Price is Right, Logan, you would have went over. One dollar. In 2023, in 2023, the top vote getter was Asia Wilson with 35,968 votes. The next year, Kaitlyn Clark comes in. The top vote getter is Kaitlyn Clark with

with 216,426 of seven votes. And excuse me, I might be saying this wrong. It's actually after the first round of like votes come in that early first round. So yeah, I understand the point I'm trying to make. We went from 40,000 or 36,000 to 200,000 when Caitlin Clark came in. And maybe what's more, what's more important to me is that now this season in 2025,

The first round of returns has Caitlyn at way higher than 200 something. She's at 515,000, which shows so much growth. We're talking about half a million votes came in for Caitlyn Clark. Also equally impressively is Nafisa Collier at almost 515,000.

500,000 votes, 484. So like this is it's to say like, yeah, yeah, it is a lot of Caitlin Clark driving this stuff, but it's growing and it's taking everyone. There's a lot of interest and it's taking everyone with them. I want to know the final number on how many I wonder if we're going to crack a million this year. Well, another thing that I was thought was interesting was where Angel Reese was in that voting because Angel Reese was number 13 and she had pulled in and far this first round of early votes coming in.

173,367 votes, which I think is interesting because like it don't make sense the math ain't mathin Angel Reese is the most followed player on social media like she's got 5 million followers on Instagram and then after that it's not even close like the next one is Caitlin Clark who's at like 3.5 and then after that it's like I think it's I think it's Sabrina like won something but it's not even close so

Where's her fan base? I mean, let me not get beat up here. But more importantly, there's 12 players in front of her. So is that fan base not as active and engaged in the moment where it matters most?

She got to post an Instagram story with the link. Hey guys, voting's open just in case you didn't see it. Right. She can't be too cool. You can't be too cool promoting this and that. And don't forget to promote yourself. That's what I be doing. I promote everybody's stuff except myself. And I feel like my sister falling victim to that because

Of course, everybody going to go where she point. But sometimes, you know, she want to point at the podcast a little more than the actual all star voting. So salute to her. Maybe she doesn't want to show like, you know what I mean? I did just that's just something I found interesting. I was like looking through it and I was like, wait a second. And so that's a correlation I made. I'm not really sure why that's happening, but.

Very interesting. She say jump, take on jump. My bad sis. Right. Well, with just a few days of voting left, it is now time for us to make our own votes. Now, Roz actually gets a very special media vote, but just like everyone else, we have picked four backcourt and six frontcourt players. We've also picked who we think the two captains should be, and then we're going to reveal all of the picks to each other. Sound good? Yes. Okay, let's start with guards. Juju, who do you have in your backcourt?

All righty. Here goes nothing. I got Paige Beckers, number one. I got Sabrina Ionescu, number two. I got Ryan D. Howard, number three. And Big Al, Alicia Gray, number four. Don't beat me up. I just knew your ballot was going to be heavy biased and skewing towards the Atlanta Dream. You see his jersey?

You see, this is this is this is actual factual. This is no sense of bias. This is my actual allegiance is to the just the sanctity of the game here. OK, OK, because, you know, I could be I could be accused of liberty affiliations or affinity for liberty players because my back court is

similar to yours in three spots so i have i or wait do i have that yes i have oh wait no it's not i'm tripping wow okay i just realized you don't even have caitlyn clark out there oh you're gonna see it out loud into the microphone oh my goodness wait so your four backcourt votes

doesn't even have Kaitlyn Clark on it. Is it because she got injured and missed a couple games? - There we are. - What is your reasoning? - Did you forget about her? - No, I did not forget about her. My sister plays seven games and she missed five games. Like this is not a very long season. - Paige is on there by the way. - I have to comment you hot right now. Thank you, Logan, because you have Paige Beckers there who also missed a chunk of the season with, of this beginning part of the season with a concussion and was feeling sick.

Yeah, but when she came back... And Sabrina is so indefinitely... Her team is in 11th place in the league, and you got Kaitlyn who's being leaned on for so much that the Fever need to do, and...

Yes, and they got beat. Also has the fan vote. Yes, she has the fan vote. That's what I'm saying. I'm not influenced by the fan vote. The fan vote is the fan vote. But this is my actual vote. When Paige got back, guess what? The wings looked better when she got back. She got their first home W in front of Gino Ariema when she came back. She making every single game competitive when she came back. When Caitlyn came back, of course, she did a wonderful job against your Liberty, but she got spanked against them Valkyrie.

She got, like, they not necessarily doing what the folks think she doing. Like, she got, and she went, like, one for her last 17, 19 threes. I'm not saying she isn't deserving to be on the all-star team. I'm saying the starters, your best ability is your availability. And Pace come out and show out. She's so accurate. Her efficiency is just at a little higher clip, in my opinion. Okay.

First of all, we pushed you into a corner and you swung right back at us, Juju. You had your arguments. This is very much, let it be known at Goodfellas, this is a safe space for opinions, okay? All right.

So that's your starting group for backcourt. Can you show Roz Goldenbudde's starting group? I had some different choices there. So for me, the things that seemed pretty clear for me was Kaitlyn Clark, Alicia Gray, Sabrina Ionescu. Ryan Howard is one of those immediate reserve pickups. She'll be an all-star reserve. I didn't think the Dream needed two players there, in my opinion, but where...

I had my conflict was is it Skylar Diggins or Paige Beckers who gets that fourth vote for me for the guard position and for

And for me, Skye's on a better team. She's averaging 18 points, six assists, two rebounds, one and a half steals, three turnovers, and is shooting about 44% from three in the field on a better team. But for me, it's really impressive to me that as a rookie, I didn't even realize Paige was averaging 18 points per game. She's tops in assists. She's averaging six assists. She really doesn't make a lot of mistakes, especially, again, given how much the ball is in her hand and how much she's a rookie and her team isn't that good.

Defensively, Paige has... I already said this. Paige in college was disruptive as a defender. Her length, she gets steals, she gets blocks. She's averaging a block a game, two steals, only turns it over two and a half times. And again, to your point, her efficiency. However...

Can I hold it against her that her team is just so bad? I don't think that's against Paige. I actually think it's more impressive that she's continuing to be this good despite what the Dallas Wings are doing. So that was my hard part. I actually have a few days until I have to get my vote in at the time of taping this show. So can I get away with just saying Clark, Gray, Yonescu, and then either Smith-Beckers and I'll figure that out on my own time? Absolutely not. Make a choice right now. Shame the devil.

It's not like the Storm are sitting at two or three either, you know, they're hanging around at the middle five.

I'm going to give it to Paige. But I love you, Skye. I love you. I love you too, Skye. And the Storm, like you say, the Storm are better than their numbers say right now. They just got a big win. Now, Sabrina was out the other night, but they got a big win against the Liberty. And they really, they show up, brother. Gabby Williams, I hope she made the team this year because they got some stars over there.

- I absolutely, I was on the call for that game and I made the similar case that Skyla Diggins did for Nneka in that like Nneka is, Nneka changed the game for them. She's so efficient. Sky makes so much happen for that team. And they're lacking in depth, but they are very talented veteran and this year building in the continuity now. You got them players playing with each other for two years.

I actually think that they have a lot more potential to hit in the storm. I'm really excited for them. And I expect to see both Sky and NECA represent as all-stars in the all-star game. Now, whether they're starters or not is different, but they're certainly all-star players. Like, there's nothing to really discuss about that.

- Right. - Y'all, I'm so sorry we have to wrap this block up, but I wanna show mine very quickly. It's pretty much a mix of both of y'alls. But I more so went for popularity and play on the court.

But yeah, I really didn't expect anyone else to do Kelsey Plum, which is why. Yeah. A little West Coast love. Yeah, okay. We like that. I love how she plays, especially I shouted out for this once, but I'll say it again, my short queen, which she's not actually super short, but also shout out to Brittany Sykes because I wasn't sure if anyone was going to put her on, but she really has some competition to make this list. Coming up, we reveal our front court votes. We'll be right back.

All right, everybody. It's UFC International Fight Week. And while hotels in Vegas may be sold out, there's still one vacancy left. And it's the lightweight title at UFC 317. Grab your own crown with DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the UFC. A new champ.

will be crowned when Ilya Teporya, who's come up from the featherweight division, collides with Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title. Plus, Alessandre Pantoja puts his flyweight title on the line against Kai Kara France in a high-stakes co-main event. New to DraftKings Sportsbook, here's your main event. Just bet five bucks and score 150 bucks in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code GOODFOLLOW, that's code GOODFOLLOW, for new customers to get 150 bucks in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY at 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio.

Hey there, travelers. Kaley Cuoco here. Sorry to interrupt your music, great artist BT Dubs, but wouldn't you rather be there to hear it live? With Priceline, you can get out of your dreams and into your dream concert. They've got millions of travel deals to get you to that festival, gig, rave, sound bath, or sonic experience you've been dreaming of. Download the Priceline app today, and you can save up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights. So don't just dream about that trip. Book it with Priceline. ♪ Got your happy price, Priceline ♪

If you went on a road trip and you didn't stop for a Big Mac or drop a crispy fry between the car seats or use your McDonald's bag as a placemat, then that wasn't a road trip. It was just a really long drive. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. At Participating McDonald's.

Welcome back to Good Follow. Today's episode is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. It is now time to reveal the rest of our team. And I want to see who we all went with in the front court. So Roz, you're up. I want to hear it. All right. All right. And Juju staying with us. Thank you, Juju, for being on the show. My six front court votes are Nafisa Collier. Hmm.

Asia Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, Nneka Ogwumike, and Jonquil Jones. The only one that I think, in my opinion, is controversial here might be Jonquil Jones only because I think the injury may have hurt her and that she's missed a couple of games here. But given that voting is ending on like the June 28th, when I think of the body of work of what Jonquil Jones has done, I think that's worthy of her position in my front court ballot.

You may be saying, oh, but she only averages, I think something like 14 points per game or whatever. She was, before she got hurt, she was one of two players averaging a double-double. It was her and Angel Reese. And it's one of those things like you got to watch the games. If you're watching the Liberty, you understand just how important Jonquil Jones is to the Liberty's success. So,

Those are my six and I'm standing 10 toes down on it. What's up? You know, what's that smell? Is anybody cooking in here? You know, I smell a little home cooking as well. You accuse me with a dream. Yes. John Quell is amazing. And yes, you conveniently have six

people in your front court as well. I don't like it at all. Make a choice. She is out of here if you got to ask me. And I love Ja'Quil. I know how important she is, but that's not what we're doing. We got to get her up out of here. Salute to Ja'Quil Jones. But you like the other ones. You feel like, you know, Alyssa Thomas is another front court vote where I feel like you really got to be watching the games and understanding all that she does. And, you know, she's leading the league in assists, which she's done before.

And for the Mercury, she just makes so much happening. Like she just fills that stat sheet. So, yeah. I mean, where are you at with yours, Juju? Look, I had my biggest problem was it's so many good guards in the league. I was like, let's put Slim from Brittany Sykes. Let's put her at four because she can play it if she wanted to. But yeah, I got Saito.

Kiki, Breonna Stewart. I got, of course, you got to know Queen Fee, Asia Wilson. And the same thing you said, bruh. Alyssa Thomas, AT is just a little too important for the Mercury's...

eventual success because she missed some games she had an injury but bro they i think what they on like a five six game winning streak right now she got everybody out there looking crazy she passed the hitman sammy sam sammy wilkin trey ball she passed over here hell the tray ball like bro mccoy tray ball so it's like bro she's the ultimate facilitator she makes satu even better

I think that she has to be on this list. But yeah, everyone else deserves it as well. And that's interesting because Satu absolutely is deserving of a front court starter position too. I just wondered, do the Mercury get two there?

it's i i felt that i had to make a choice and i felt that ultimately i went at but satu absolutely has has a discussion around mvp even to be in the conversation the way she's been scoring the ball for the mercury and she's a little bit gotta got a chip on her shoulder i said this in another show once like i spoke with her she said she heard all the chatter last season you know the disrespect was loud and now she's got a fresh slate she's healthy and she's just letting her game do the talking

I have Kiki. I have Kiki as an as a reserve all star. She's been fantastic, but she was very close to making a starter vote for me. But I ultimately still said John Quell just because of how strong the Liberty had started. They're having a bit of an injury bug and losing right now. But so are we all in agreeance that basically Fee, Asia and Stewie are the Givens? Yeah, 100 percent. 100 percent.

100%. And I had Kiki because whenever Shakira and they was injured this year, Kiki stepped up in the role that I didn't even expect her to step up in. So I feel like we'll let her step up in this role. I'll start her. I mean,

She was Ricky at a month, right? And I'm surprised you didn't bring up, you know, your Atlanta dream. Like Bree Jones is a reserve candidate. Angel Reese is a reserve candidate as well. Aaliyah Boston is leading, you know, one of the leading front court players in the fan vote, but she also has a reserve case. So there's a lot of talent here. Logan, what was you saying?

I was gonna say, Oh, first of all, I have been loving watching saw to play recently. Like, I don't know what you said it with the comment. She has something to her, but I even feel like she's starting to get big outside of like the inner circle of the W because I was at the Chicago and Phoenix game the other day and somebody texted me unicorn is balling. Mind you, this isn't like this person can't even name the whole fever team at this point. So I'm like,

How the hell, like who, what, when, where, why, how, how do you even know that she's called unicorn? That is crazy. But I think my team is actually a mix of both of y'alls. If I'm not mistaken, it might look a bit more like jujus. Oh, it is jujus. We have the exact, oh wait, except for JJ. Except for Kaylee, yeah. Okay, so why did you keep Jonquil Jones in yours despite the injury?

honestly i didn't fully think of the injury and her possibly not even playing but pretty much based on history her double doubles were insane and you saw that when she came away from the liberty when she stopped playing because of her injury they took a little dip they had to completely reconfigure their whole game strategy and i mean we're seeing it now especially with other players coming down but she is an impactful player and you were saying it on the show but it wasn't until she left that you were really able to see her impact

Yeah, for sure. I mean, one could argue and there's plenty of important players in the Liberty. It's kind of a dumb argument anyway, because I'm sure they don't care. Right. But one could argue John Cole Jones is the most important player on the Liberty. But I also could equally make you an argument for why Brianna Stewart is or, you know, the importance of what, you know, UNESCO is doing out there. So I think what's key is that they got players that are that important and everyone's willing to sacrifice for one another.

Yeah. I love it. And I just want to say, I didn't think we were going to be talking about the reserves at all. I thought we had windows to stay into. Brother, I cannot go on this broadcast and not mention the work that Kayla Thorne is out there doing with them. Valkyrie Kayla is out there showing her behind this year after a grace, great tenure with the Liberty. You feel me? She, she ran the experience and no Valkyrie been going through injuries.

They've been going through overseas obligations and she's been a steady ship that she's been.

Ah, tray ball in your mouth, tray ball to the whole game. And one game rebounds right game when it's like ludicrous. The week award. Did you see that? Yeah. Look out for them. Valkyrie, brother. Valkyrie no regular just expansion team that is going to play with. Now you better practice before you go over there. Get you one in. Juju, what's the plural of Valkyries again? Valkyrie. It ain't no S on it.

I feel like it shouldn't be an S on Valkyrie. You sound cooler. Yeah, no, shout out to Kayla Thornton for sure, Ski. I certainly hope that in one way or another, she finds her way on a reserve role. Reserves are voted in by the coaches, starters, 50% media, 20, I'm sorry, 50% fans, 25% media, 25% players. Yeah, for sure. Oh, is that the end of the show, guys?

It is. That was so much fun. I could talk eight more hours on this, but yeah. DraftKings, salute. Debating your picks. Nah, not debating my picks.

- No, this is a safe space. All opinions welcome. Juju, you're the best. We love having you on. - Thank you. - Logan, enjoy your time in France. Thank you all for watching. Good follow. We're presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. We do Tuesday and Thursday drops. Yes, all the things. We do Tuesday and Thursday drops. Subscribe, comment, follow us on social media. Tell your friends, get the word out there.

We've been waiting for this scraggly 3,000 subscribers on YouTube. Can y'all get us 21? Let's do it as a team. Anyway, thank you for tuning in. We'll catch you next week. Bye, guys.