Marina Mabrey ranking fuels Caitlin Clark snub backlash
Fans erupted after WNBA peers snubbed Caitlin Clark again, with Marina Mabrey and other guards finishing ahead in player All-Star voting while Clark also went unmentioned in a viral scoring-record debate. The Fever star still started All-Star Weekend, but the peer gap sparked fresh “nauseating” outrage online.
Key Takeaways
- Player All-Star ballots ranked Caitlin Clark 11th among guards; Marina Mabrey tied for fourth.
- Fans and media ranked Clark far higher, and she still earned a starting spot.
- A Just Women’s Sports poll on who could break the 53-point record omitted Clark, fueling more backlash.
- Candace Parker and TV analysts called the peer ranking petty and insulting.
The latest wave of disgust around celebrity breaking news in the WNBA centers on how Clark’s peers keep downplaying her. According to Sporting News, players’ votes placed her 11th among guards even as fans had her No. 2 and media No. 3.
Why did Marina Mabrey finish ahead of Caitlin Clark?
WNBA All-Star starters are chosen with a weighted mix: fans 50%, players 25%, and media 25%. Players vote for four guards and six frontcourt players, not a full 1-through-11 list.
Aggregated player ballots still left Clark at No. 11 among guards. Known names ahead of her included Paige Bueckers, Rhyne Howard, Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Marina Mabrey, Allisha Gray, and teammate Kelsey Mitchell. Mabrey, then with the Tempo, was tied for fourth in that player tally at 21.0 points per game.
Clark entered the debate averaging 21.0 points (fourth in the league) and 7.9 assists (second) over 23 games, Sporting News reported. She made the starter group anyway because fan and media support outweighed the peer snub.
What sparked the “nauseating” reaction online?
During 2026 All-Star Weekend in Chicago, a Just Women’s Sports social post asked which current player could break the WNBA’s 53-point single-game scoring record. Clark was not named among the responses, Yahoo Sports reported.
That omission landed poorly after Clark’s recent 45-point, 10-assist night against Seattle—on a minutes restriction, fans noted. One reaction captured the mood: “This is so nauseating. She just had 45 the other night.” Others accused the league of freezing her out even as she handled the spotlight, including praise from Barack Obama at an All-Star event at the Obama Presidential Center.
How did analysts respond to the player vote?
Former star Candace Parker said players who saw Clark as the 11th-best guard needed to “look at themselves in the mirror” and confront insecurities. ESPN’s Stacey Dales called the ranking “insulting” and “preposterous,” while Colin Cowherd labeled it “so petty.”
Only 85 of 180 players submitted starter ballots, ESPN reported, with some Sparks players saying emails never arrived. That limited sample still shaped a quarter of the official starter formula—and the Marina Mabrey voting gap remains the flashpoint fans cannot ignore.