Azzi Fudd became the first rookie to win the WNBA All Star 3-point contest, scoring 30 points in the championship round to beat Portland Fire forward Bridget Carleton at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The Dallas Wings guard, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, opened the finals by making her first six attempts and finished with a total that ties her for the second highest single round score in the event’s history, behind only Sabrina Ionescu’s 37 point performance in 2023. Fudd said afterward that she had not realized she would be the first rookie to claim the title, calling the distinction an honor.
Injuries shaped her shooting style
Fudd’s path to the contest ran through a long list of lower body injuries dating back to high school. She tore her right ACL and MCL during a USA Basketball tournament in 2019, then missed 11 games as a UConn freshman with a foot injury. Multiple knee problems cost her 22 games as a sophomore, and a torn ACL and meniscus ended her junior season early.
Much of her rehab involved shooting from a stationary chair rather than moving through a full range of motion, a repetitive process she credited for sharpening the mechanical consistency of her shot. She joked that competing without a walking boot this time around felt far less complicated than it had in 2021, when she wore one to a high school shootout and still finished as runner up.
A shot passed down
Fudd traces her shooting form directly to her parents. Her mother, Katie Smrcka Duffy Fudd, played college basketball and was drafted into the WNBA in 2001, while her father, Tim Fudd, was an all conference player at American University who went on to play professionally in Europe.
Fudd has said her shot mirrors her mother’s almost exactly, the product of a summer the family spent rebuilding it from the ground up. She acknowledged the win came with limited practice time, since the WNBA schedule had her playing four games in six days heading into the All Star break, and she had little rest after a full night of All Star events the evening before the contest.
A star studded night in Chicago
The 3-point contest capped a night of All Star festivities that also featured the Shooting Stars event, won by a Washington trio of Elena Delle Donne, Shakira Austin and high school standout Jezelle Banks, who edged Seattle with the help of two long range 4-point makes.
In the 3-point contest itself, Carleton opened with a strong first round before cooling off in the finals, while Fudd carried her early momentum through to the championship round. The crowd included NBA figures such as Jayson Tatum, Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade and league commissioner Adam Silver. Fudd closed the night with a lighthearted challenge to Golden State’s Steph Curry, referencing a shooting contest the two had at his camp when she was still in high school and asking for a rematch.
Bigger payouts under the new deal
The win came with a considerably larger paycheck than in past years. Under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, Fudd earned $20,000 for the victory, with each contest participant guaranteed $10,000, roughly eight times what competitors received a year earlier. Aflac added further bonuses on top of the league prize money, bringing Fudd’s total earnings from the night past $40,000, with Carleton and third place finisher Rhyne Howard also receiving added sponsor money.
