UNCASVILLE, Conn.
Tamika Catchings didn’t want to get sentimental thinking about her final All-Star Game.
Catchings, who announced last fall that this would be her final season, will play in a record 10th game Saturday. The WNBA usually skips the All-Star Game during Olympic years.
“I’m excited,” Catchings said. “I think everybody thought I’d be sad about this coming to the end, the last this, the last that. I’m really not. It’s time. The young players are playing so well.”
It almost would have been fitting if last year’s All-Star Game had been Catchings’ finale. The Indiana Fever forward hit the game-winning layup in overtime to lift the East to a thrilling 125-124 victory over the West. It’s going to be tough to top that.
“That was some game last year,” Chicago guard Cappie Pondexter said. “We all know in the locker room that it’s Catch’s last one, and we definitely don’t want her to go out with a loss.”
Eastern Conference coach Pokey Chatman was quiet on if anything special was planned for Catchings but did say that everyone was aware of the situation.
“We all know what she’s brought to the game and what she’s meant to the WNBA over the years,” Chatman said.
The WNBA’s future is bright with young stars Brittney Griner, Maya Moore and Elena Delle Donne, who is playing in her first game after leading the fan voting this season. Delle Donne was supposed to play in the last two All-Star contests but missed them because of injuries.
Catchings is one of the few All-Star veterans playing in the game Saturday, which features 10 first-time participants.
“They call me old. I’m not old, just wiser than you guys,” Catchings joked.
Moore knows that with Catchings leaving next year, other players are going to need to step up on and off the court.
“She’s been so much a part of what I’ve known as the WNBA,” Moore said. “In high school, I was watching her compete and being compared to her, wearing knee pads like her. She’s somebody who embodies so many things that you want the next generation to look like. The responsibility she takes off the court. She brings so much heart to the WNBA.”
