UNCASVILLE, Conn. — After Elena Delle Donne was selected No. 2 in the 2013 W.N.B.A. draft, people wondered if she would fulfill the lofty expectations that accompanied such a distinction and become a transcendent player for a league continually fighting for recognition in American sports.

Delle Donne was overpowering at the college level at Delaware, which is not a powerhouse program like Connecticut, where she briefly went before choosing to play closer to her home.

With the league’s best players gathered at Mohegan Sun Arena for Saturday’s W.N.B.A. All-Star Game, Delle Donne’s colleagues, including Brittney Griner — the player selected No. 1 in 2013 — and the league president are acknowledging that she has arrived at that moment.

“She’s doing what everybody expected,” Griner said. “Elena, she’s a dominant player. It’s good for the league, how everybody always is talking about Delle Donne.”