Why Kayla McBride should be a 2024 All-Star

If there’s one thing that has defined the Minnesota Lynx’ success in 2024, it’s 3-point shooting. And if there’s one player on the Lynx who defines that shooting, it’s Kayla McBride.

The Lynx (11-3) are in third place in the WNBA standings, thanks in large part to an offense that emphasizes floor spacing and selflessness. Though Minnesota features one of the league’s best players in Napheesa Collier, its approach to scoring the basketball hinges upon playing as a unit, turning down good shots for great ones and stretching opposing defenses thin with scoring threats at every position. That offensive philosophy has certainly worked so far. Minnesota currently ranks No. 2 in the WNBA in offensive rating, scoring 105.6 points per 100 possessions, and No. 1 in effective field goal percentage at 53.9 percent.

It’s been McBride’s spectacular shooting that is fueling those numbers. Now in her 11th WNBA season, McBride has been known for years as one of the league’s deadliest jumpshooters, and she has the accolades to prove it, including a trio of All-Star appearances and an All-Rookie nod in 2014.

The run McBride has been on in 2024, however, is outstanding even by her standards. She’s currently averaging 17.1 points per game, her most since signing with the Lynx in 2021, and shooting an incredible 49.5 percent on 3-pointers, making 3.5 of them per contest.

Let’s take a step back for a minute and contextualize those statistics. According to Across the Timeline, only six other players in the WNBA are getting up as many 3-pointers per game (seven) as McBride is, and none of them are connecting on nearly as many. It’s not hyperbole to say that no one is shooting the ball as well as McBride.

In fact, not many players in WNBA history have. Only two players—Sabrina Ionescu in 2023 and Kelsey Plum in 2022—have shot 40 percent or better on seven 3-point attempts per game. If the 2024 season ended today, McBride would go down as having by far the most accurate high-volume shooting campaign since the league’s inception.

Of course, there are still quite a few regular-season games remaining in 2024 (26, to be exact), and to maintain this kind of marksmanship throughout a full 40-game schedule would be an improbable feat, even for a shooter of McBride’s caliber. If we’re strictly talking All-Star credentials, though, the numbers she’s putting up give her a solid case. It goes without saying that McBride has been one of the WNBA’s most efficient scorers—her 64.1 percent effective field goal percentage ranks second among players who have totaled at least 100 field goal attempts—but she’s also having the best playmaking season of her career, chipping in 3.9 assists per game in Minnesota’s egalitarian offensive system.

McBride’s game isn’t the flashiest, and to the casual viewer, she may not stand out as much on a Lynx team that would rather each of its players excel in their respective roles than have one or two hog the spotlight. That doesn’t make her any less deserving of an All-Star nod in 2024, though; she’s having a shooting season for the ages, and it’s directly contributed to her team’s winning ways.