Azzi Fudd Wins WNBA 3-Point Contest With 30 Points as First Rookie Champion

Q: How did a rookie manage to outshoot seasoned veterans and claim the lucrative WNBA 3-point crown?

Azzi Fudd won because she paired elite shot-making with near-perfect timing under pressure. The Dallas Wings rookie scored 30 points in the championship round, becoming the first rookie to take the WNBA All-Star 3-point title and matching Sabrina Ionescu’s winning total from last year. The decisive factor was her start. Fudd made her first six shots in the final and reportedly hit 20 of 26 overall, including eight of her final 10 attempts. That immediate rhythm forced Bridget Carleton, who had led the opening round with 29 points, to chase from behind. Carleton never recovered from a slow start and finished with 19. Fudd’s performance was not a fluke. The No. 1 overall pick entered as one of the contest favorites, ranks among the league leaders in 3-pointers made per game, and had prepared by studying 3-point contest film during Wings practices. Her own explanation was simple: focus and repetition. She said she wanted “to see the ball go in” and treated it like the shooting work players do every day. The format also rewarded precision and composure. In 70 seconds, shooters must move through five racks, a money-ball rack and bonus long-range shots. Fudd handled that pace better than the veterans, closing with four straight corner 3s in one report. Her reward reflected the stakes: $20,000 from the league under the new CBA, plus added Aflac money, for a total $40,000 payday.

Q: Why was the reigning 3-point champion mysteriously missing from this historic 2026 WNBA All-Star contest?

The reigning champion, Sabrina Ionescu, was missing because she says she was never officially invited to defend her title. That became the central controversy before the event. Some early reports said Ionescu had declined to participate, but the New York Liberty guard publicly pushed back, saying, “I can’t decline an offer I never got officially invited to.” She also said she was surprised by the suggestion that she had turned it down and wanted to “set the record straight.” The WNBA responded by saying its normal process is to contact agents to gauge player interest, and that some players accept while others decline. That explanation did not fully resolve the issue, because Ionescu and others, including Kayla McBride, indicated that no formal invitation had reached them in a clear or official way. So the mystery was not an injury withdrawal or a competitive choice by Ionescu, at least according to her account. It appears to have been an invitation and communication dispute between the league’s process and the player’s expectation of an official invite. Her absence stood out because Ionescu is a two-time champion and one of the event’s biggest names. She set the all-time WNBA/NBA 3-point contest record with 37 points in 2023 and had won the title again last season, making her omission especially notable in a contest that ended with rookie Azzi Fudd making history.

3 articles · Updated · Bleacher Report · Jul 25

Azzi Fudd captured the 2026 WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest in Chicago, scoring 30 points in the final to beat Bridget Carleton's 19.
The Dallas Wings guard became both the first rookie and the first Wings player to win the event after opening the championship round with six straight makes.
Fudd and Carleton reached the final by posting 24 and 27 points in the first round, ahead of Rhyne Howard at 20 and Janelle Salaun at 19.
The No. 1 overall pick has backed up the title with a strong debut season, averaging 13.2 points and leading all rookies with 53 made 3-pointers.