Former Stanford Standout Kiki Iriafen Named to WNBA All Star Team

The WNBA All Star Game is scheduled to take place on Saturday July 19 at 5:30 p.m. (PT), and we now know the reserve players that will be filling out the rosters for each club. One former Stanford Cardinal, Nneka Ogwumike, was named a starter last week, and on Sunday, Kiki Iriafen of the Washington Mystics was named as a reserve.

Iriafen's inclusion on the list of former Cardinal may be a touch controversial, being that she transferred before her final season of college ball to attend USC. The 6-foot-3 forward took a huge step forward in her final year with Stanford, averaging 19.4 points and 11 rebounds per game. It was the year that put her on the map, and it came with the Cardinal.

She had a similar season with USC in 2024-25, leading to her being selected No. 4 overall by the Mystics in the WNBA Draft. She joins teammate Sonia Citron and No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers as the only rookies to make the WNBA All Star team.

In her rookie season, Iriafen is averaging 12.3 points per game while collecting 8.3 rebounds, dishing 1.3 assists, and snagging 0.8 steals per game. From the press release, "Among rookies, she ranks third in scoring, first in rebounds per game, seventh in field goal percentage, and leads all rookies in total free-throw attempts (70)."

Iriafen is also the first rookie in franchise history to win Rookie of the Month, and "reached 100 points and 80 rebounds in just eight games, becoming the fastest rookie in Mystics history and the quickest in the WNBA to do so since Tina Charles in 2010."

The Mystics are 8-10 on the season, good for ninth in the league in the overall standings, though they're just one game back of both the Las Vegas Aces and the Indiana Fever for the seventh and eighth spots. As fate would have it, they'll be facing the Aces at home on Thursday after their game against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on Tuesday.

Following those games, the Mystics will hit the road for two more before the break, facing off against Ogwumike and the Seattle Storm on Sunday, July 13, and the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday, July 15. Iriafen's former teammate at Stanford, Cameron Brink, has been out all season following her injury last year, but the latest report on her status was that she'd be back "sooner rather than later."

If she's back in time for this game against the Mystics, then fans of the Cardinal will certainly be tuning in for his matchup of recent former greats for the program.