‘I Was Just Locked In’: Dallas Wings Rookie Azzi Fudd Becomes First Rookie To Win WNBA 3-Point Contest

CHICAGO — Azzi Fudd scored 30 points in the championship round of the State Farm WNBA 3-Point Contest on Friday night at Wintrust Arena, becoming the first rookie to win the event in its 13 stagings.

Fudd, the first overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, reached the final with 24 points in the opening round and then opened the championship round by making all five shots from the left-corner rack. Bridget Carleton put up 27 points in the first round, the most of anyone in the field, but needed 30 in the final to force a playoff and finished with 19.

“It was shock. That’s crazy,” Fudd said. “To be the first is definitely an honor.”

The 30 points are also the most any rookie has scored in a single round of the contest. Rhyne Howard held the previous rookie high with the 24 she put up in the opening round in 2022, a total Fudd matched in her own first round Friday before clearing it in the final. Kelsey Mitchell scored 16 in 2018 and Sonia Citron had 19 last year, the only other first-year players ever invited.

Howard scored 20 in Friday’s opening round, followed by Janelle Salaün with 19, Marina Mabrey with 18, and Natisha Hiedeman with 17.

Azzi Fudd Credits Rehab Shooting For Her Rack Mechanics

Fudd traced the repeatability that carried her through the racks back to the stationary work she logged while returning from injuries earlier in her basketball career.

“Honestly, I feel like it goes back to coming back from injuries,” Fudd said. “It was a lot of chair shooting, a lot of stationary shots, so you get really good at shooting off a rack and being stationary and robotic and having your shot down pat.”

She missed six shots across the two rounds and thought that was too many. Fudd said she went in nervous but settled once she was on the clock, and she preferred drawing the first slot in the final over waiting.

“You get your nerves out of the way. My hands were all sweaty, and then you don’t have to think about it,” Fudd said. “In the first round, I had to watch the first two people go and think about my shot and wonder, ‘Am I going to miss it? Am I going to make it?’ But once you get it done, there’s nothing you can do.”

Once the first rack fell, she stopped tracking the score.

“When I’m shooting, I’m just thinking about making sure my feet are set, my follow-through is the same, and everything feels good,” Fudd said. “When you’re locked in, you’re just thinking, ‘Same thing, same thing,’ not necessarily about what’s happening. I was just locked in, in the zone—next ball, next ball.”

Preparation Time Was Limited Before Chicago

The Dallas Wings played three games in four days to close the first half, leaving Fudd with only a couple of practice sessions to work through a format that has almost nothing in common with in-game shooting.

The team also had just two standard ball racks on hand, so staffers rebounded and reset by hand.

“Seriously, shout out to our coaching staff and all of our interns who helped figure this out,” Fudd said. “Getting a few reps and getting the feel for it was huge. I definitely appreciate them making that possible.”

The Dallas Contingent In The Building

Fudd was presented with the SZN 30 chain after the win, and she said afterward that having family, friends, and former teammates in the building was what made the night land.

The Dallas group included Paige Bueckers, Alysha Clark, who watched in Fudd’s No. 35 Wings jersey, Aziaha James, and Costanza Verona, along with Jessica Shepard between her own turns in the Shooting Stars event. General manager Curt Miller, Wings coach Jose Fernandez, CEO Greg Bibb, and majority owner Bill Cameron were also there.

Fudd said the organization’s turnout stood out as much as the trophy.

“You can see the support. Having the front office there, having my teammates there, having the staff make it possible for me to practice before I came out here—it just shows all the love, support, dedication and commitment, not just to me, but to each of us as players and individuals,” Fudd said. “It means a lot.”

The Prize Money Behind Azzi Fudd’s Win

Fudd’s win paid $70,000. The new collective bargaining agreement gives every 3-Point Contest participant $10,000 from the league and the winner another $20,000, and the WNBPA added $40,000 on top of that through a prize pool funded by Aflac.

The union pool totals $170,000 across Friday’s two events, up from $115,000 a year ago, and this is the first year any of it reaches shooters who don’t win. Carleton’s runner-up finish was worth $40,000 in all and third place paid $25,000. The WNBPA has been supplementing these events since 2024 to narrow the gap with what the NBA pays its contest winners.

The other $85,000 went to Shooting Stars, which pairs a current player, a WNBA legend, and a Nike EYBL youth player on each team. The union and Aflac had not settled on how to divide that money as of this week, according to Front Office Sports, which reported that participating players were expected to make $7,500 with another $15,000 going to the winners.

Shepard represented Dallas alongside Wings and Detroit Shock great Deanna “Tweety” Nolan, and the Washington team of Elena Delle Donne, Shakira Austin, and GG Banks took the event.

Fudd said she has not settled on what to do with hers.

“First I’m going to save it, and then maybe at the end of the season take a vacation,” Fudd said. “I feel like my family and I need a vacation.”

A UConn First, And A Curry Rematch

Fudd is also believed to be the first UConn player to win the contest, a note she had not considered until it was raised at the podium.

“Wow. Again, definitely honored. That’s crazy. I don’t know. I’m speechless,” Fudd said.

She pointed to her parents when asked where the shot came from, saying it looks identical to her mother’s in old photos and that the two of them spent an entire summer rebuilding it.

“It’s really all credit to them—the time and effort they put into helping me stay disciplined and build a good foundation with my shot,” Fudd said. “Without them instilling that repetition and attention to detail, it wouldn’t be the same.”

Fudd competed against Stephen Curry at his camp as a 15-year-old, one of the first two girls invited, and she used the podium to reopen that matchup.

“Steph, if you’re listening, I’ve been asking for a rematch since high school, so maybe it’s time to figure out a time and place,” Fudd said.

Allie Quigley’s four titles remain the standard, and Fudd said she had not thought about chasing that until the question came up. She also noted that her release buys her margin the format rewards, since she finished with time left on the clock in both rounds.

What It Means For The Second Half

Fudd said the win carries over even though the racks bear little resemblance to game reps.

“A three-point competition is completely different than shooting threes in a game, but it definitely feels good. It’s a nice little boost going into the second half,” Fudd said.

Dallas enters the break at 18-9 after a 101-97 win at Portland on Wednesday. Fudd is averaging 13.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 31.6 minutes across 26 games, shooting 45.7% from the field and 38.7% from 3-point range on 53 makes, and she carried a streak of five straight games with at least 3 3-pointers into the weekend. She is also averaging 1.7 steals, the part of her rookie season that has drawn as much attention in Dallas as the shooting.