Former Notre Dame Stars Should Shine as WNBA Introduces 4-Point Shot for All-Star Game

There will be two four-point shot circles on each half of the court, located 28 feet from the basket designated as the 4-point shot zone. Pretty self-explanatory but if you make a basket from that zone, your team gets four points. Fans have never seen that before.

And we could also potentially see the first-ever five-point play.

But that's not all. The WNBA also announced on Wednesday that the All-Star game will feature a 20-second shot clock instead of the standard 24-second shot clock, hockey-like player substitutions while the ball is in play under certain conditions, and no free throws until the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

No free throws till the final two minutes of the fourth quarter still doesn't make a whole ton of sense, but who cares? The other rule changes should make the game more intriguing and increase viewership.

Of course, if Caitlin Clark, aka -- the face of the league -- is unable to play in the All-Star Game or the festivities due to a groin injury she aggravated on Tuesday, ratings and views are going to drop dramatically anyways, so why not go ahead and try a bunch of new things?

As for how the WNBA All-Star game rules benefit former Notre Dame hoopers Sonia Citron, Skylar Diggins, and Jackie Young, it'll be interesting. They'll get their chances to shine.

The NBA All-Star Game has been a joke for a while now -- lack of effort and don't even get me started about shot selection --- and hopefully that's not the case come Saturday in the WNBA All-Star Game.

However, if that's the case in the WNBA All-Star Game, expect a lot of quick shots which aren't contested, a surplus of four pointers, some creative layups and maybe, just maybe a dunk or two.

And considering Citron, Diggins, and Young all have range, don't be surprised if the three former Fighting Irish stars heave up a bunch of 4-pointers. As for one of them dunking, yeah, that's probably not going to happen.

At the end of the day, the rule changes seemed to do more good than harm for MLB in Tuesday's All-Star Game, and we expect the same result come Saturday in the WNBA All-Star Game.

Saturday's All-Star Game is at 8:30 p.m. (ET) from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on ABC.