Top WNBA stars head to Las Vegas for All-Star weekend

Well the WNBA's top stars are headed to Las Vegas for the all-star weekend. Tonight players will participate in a three-point challenge and skills contest. Tomorrow the all-star game will tip off at 8 30 p.m eastern. So for more on this I want to bring in CBS sports writer Erika Ayala. Thanks for joining us Erika. You will be my guide to the all-star weekend in Las Vegas. Walk us through the festivities, what the players will be doing in the skills challenge, and then how the all-star teams were selected. For sure. Well thank you so much for having me and why don't we start with how the teams were selected because this has been something new in the last handful of years for the WNBA. There has been a fan vote, a media vote, and a player vote. 50 percent of that carried by the fans and the two top vote getters will be the captains and once again we get Breanna Stewart versus Asia Wilson as your captains. Then those two captains are able to draft from the other selected players from the fan vote, media vote, player vote, but then also the coaches offer the reserve players and that's always a fun time. Asia Wilson is 2-0 and Breanna Stewart she kind of feels some kind of way about that so she is excited to hopefully get a win here. And so what we will see is starting today the WNBA all-stars will have a skills competition and a three-point challenge. Now a lot of people know that Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky is a three-time three-point champion but she has taken this WNBA season off so we'll definitely crown a new champion there. And then the skills competition last season in Chicago the WNBA had a team of players but they went with junior high or high school players, excuse me, young players that paired up with WNBA stars. This year we'll see teammates go head-to-head so Arikay Ogunbowale paired with Satu Sabeli, Chelsea Gray with Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Inescu who won the skills competition last year partnered with Courtney Vandersloot just to name a few. And what we'll see is there's going to be all kinds of obstacles that test their dribbling, their passing and of course their shooting proficiency. So that's going to be on Saturday and then of course we have the big game where it's going to be two halves team Wilson versus team Stewart and we'll look to see who will be this year's WNBA all-star MVP. Very exciting. In your opinion who are the most deserving players that made the roster? There are so many amazing players but I really look to Jewel Lloyd and what she's been able to do on a Seattle Storm team that has been struggling but Jewel Lloyd has found not just her leadership through her words but through her actions. She's the leading scorer coming into all-star break for the WNBA. I mentioned Cheyenne Parker and Atlanta or I will talk about Cheyenne Parker and Atlanta. I think she has been a fantastic player for the Atlanta Dream and I mean you you really could go down the list. Brittany Greiner is also an all-star has been great on a Phoenix team that has also struggled and of course we're glad to see her back not just as an honorary all-star while she was wrongfully detained in Russia but as a proper all-star representing the Phoenix Mercury. And beyond this who are the top teams that you're sort of watching in the back half of the season that have the best chance to win the title? Well for the best chance to win the title you have to go with the Las Vegas Aces and a lot of people putting the New York Liberty up there. They've been labeled super teams coming into this season but I also want to give some love to some teams that aren't in that top three and are really making a strong surge and or could play spoiler. When you think about playing spoiler you have to think about the Indiana Fever. They have Aaliyah Boston who's their rookie this year and has been phenomenal and they have already really taken the Aces to task a few times as well as the New York Liberty. New York Liberty had to get an overtime win against the Indiana Fever just before the all-star break to secure their spot in the Commissioner's Cup. You also have to look at Dallas. While Indiana has disrupted Vegas it's only been Dallas and the Connecticut Sun who've been able to figure out the Las Vegas Aces this year. I mentioned Cheyenne Parker. Ryan Howard is another player that we'll see in the all-star game and those two players along with the Atlanta Dream they actually have the longest winning streak coming into this part of the WNBA at the all-star break. So those are some teams outside of the top two that I think we should be watching on the back end of the WNBA season. All right Erica Ayala thank you so much great having you. Thank you so much.