WNBA All-Star weekend is officially here, folks. From unparalleled coverage on the StudBudz stream of fan favorites Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, to a star-studded 3-PT Contest and the All-Star Game itself, let’s dive right into the thick of it.
For what feels like the first time in the last handful of seasons, we have a 3PT Contest that has the potential to rival Sabrina Ionescu and NBA legend Steph Curry from 2024.
The roster for the sharp-shooting competition has been finalized, featuring many of the league’s top talents. Among the participants is the No. 1 overall draft pick, Azzi Fudd, from the Dallas Wings. Joining Fudd will be Rhyne Howard, Bridget Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman, Janelle Salaun, and Marina Mabrey.
Each player listed is either the best shooter on their team or near the top. As we’ve seen in the past, shooting balls off a rack in a timed environment like All-Star weekend is quite the experience compared to doing it at work off the catch, dribble, or a pull-up.
If I had to pick a winner, give me Fudd. Of the rookies taking at least three 3PA per game, the rookie sharpshooter leads them all in percentage (38.7). Though it took some time for the best shooting prospect in WNBA history to look the part, she hasn’t looked back once.
This is also one of the first competitions in recent memory where a previous champion did not participate. There was a bit of riffraff this week on that very topic when Ionescu and Minnesota Lynx star Kayla McBride claimed they were never asked to join. The league responded, saying that standard operating procedure is to make agents aware so they can inform their clients. No matter how it truly played out, I find it rather unfortunate that the WNBA failed to avoid even the smallest bit of controversy during a time meant to celebrate the league and its players.
With the exception of injured stars like Brittney Sykes and Kelsey Plum, Kayla McBride is a top 10 scorer in the WNBA, averaging 18.2 points per game and shooting a fiery 39.8% from beyond the arc. She is the second-leading scorer on the best team in the league, the Minnesota Lynx. The veteran guard is scoring as many points per game as she did eight seasons ago.
Plum is out for the All-Star Game, so it shocked the basketball world when McBride wasn’t tapped as her replacement. One of the best at her position and on the top team weren’t good enough reasons for the league, apparently.
In her storied career, McBride has been named an All-Star five times, including in the last two seasons with the Lynx. Despite All-WNBA forward Napheesa Collier playing one game before the break in her return to the court, the Lynx are represented by Natasha Howard, Olivia Miles, and Courtney Williams in the All-Star game, leaving McBride on the outside looking in. All three players have some of the best cases for selection, so it’s not a team issue. Miles looks like a generational talent every time she suits up, and Howard is having one of the best seasons of her career, with multiple championships and a DPOY award. But leaving McBride out and rewarding a bad team in the Phoenix Mercury with Kahleah Copper going instead doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Another week of WNBA basketball means another edition of Swish Happens Here, powered by Fearless S.C. We’ve reached the midpoint of the 2026 season, and the championship contenders have already […]
