CHICAGO – No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd bounced on her toes as she held her follow through and watched her shot fall from the left corner before running to the next rack. It wasn’t out of anticipation or excitement. It was a programmed movement.
With her fifth made bucket in a row, the Dallas Wings guard was off to a perfect start in the final round of the 2026 WNBA 3-point contest
on Friday, July 24, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.Fudd went on to finish with 30 points in the closing round for the highest-scoring round by a rookie in WNBA history, beating Portland Fire forward Bridget Carleton to become the first rookie to win the league’s 3-point contest.
The 23-year-old UConn alum’s new place in the league’s history books comes as the latest chapter in a story that
features a brutal injury history and an upbringing with parents who had the foresight to name her in honor of Jennifer Azzi, a collegiate basketball trailblazer who set elite standards as a sharp-shooter and floor general.
“That's crazy. To be the first is definitely an honor,” Fudd told reporters when informed of her historic feat. “Coming back from injuries, there was a lot of chair shooting, a lot of stationary shots. And so you get really good at shooting off a rack and being stationary and robotic and having your shot down to a tee.”
Dating back to her time at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., Fudd has kept shooting through a laundry list of lower leg problems. She tore her right ACL and MCL during a USA Basketball 3-on-3 tournament in 2019. Her freshman year as a Huskie saw her miss 11 games due to a foot injury. She faced multiple knee issues her sophomore year including a right knee injury that forced her to miss 22 games. As a junior in the 2023-24 season, she tore the ACL and medial meniscus in her right knee during a November practice and missed the remainder of the season. And those are just the headlines.
That’s why she was able to joke on Friday that it “feels a lot lighter” winning without a boot.
In 2021, she won Intersport’s High School All-Star Team shootout competition and claimed the runner-up title in the girls’ 3-point shooting contest, all while wearing a clunky medical boot to protect a foot injury she had at the time.
Not the first All-Star shooting title for @azzi_35 in her career. In 2021, she won Intersport's High School All-Star Team Shootout competition and finished runner-up in the girls' 3-point contest... while rocking a walking boot! https://t.co/n6FuVLnP5O pic.twitter.com/hr7hak5Cca
— Intersport Basketball (@IntersportHoops) July 25, 2026
Experiences like that certainly help when you’re too busy playing four games in the last six days before the All-Star break to dedicate prep time to an All-Star contest.
In her own assessment, Fudd's six missed shots in the final round were "too many." The league's single-round record is held by New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, who scored 37 out of 40 possible points during the final round of the 2023 competition.
“I only got to practice a couple times. We also only have two ball racks, like normal ball racks. So (our coaches and interns) were like trying to rebound and hustle, just getting me a few reps of that because in the game you don't shoot like that.”
She was also fresh off a full schedule of All-Star festivities on Thursday night that limited her to just “a nap” before taking the court. The night was so wild that she appeared on the Studbudz stream, drinking a shot before they went to their respective parties.
Azzi Fudd's parents' influence
For Fudd, the change in shooting modality was never going to offer a hiccup. Neither was the lack of sleep. Her shot is genetic.
Her mother, Katie Smrcka-Duffy Fudd, was a standout college basketball player and a 2001 WNBA draft pick. Her father, Tim Fudd, was an all-conference basketball player at American University and went on to play professional in Europe
“I definitely get my shot from my parents. My shot looks identical to my mom’s,” Fudd said. “We spent a whole summer fixing my shot, making it into what it is. And so without them, just instilling that repetition and attention into me, I wouldn't be sitting here.”
And as she sat there, $70,000 richer thanks to the contest's prize money and with a shiny new trophy in her grasp, she had to try her best to keep the truth from sounding like a brag.
When other players reportedly turned down invitations to compete in the competition, Fudd said it was an immediate yes.
“It’s t's fun to do this because — I don’t want to sound cocky to say — it's easy for me,” Fudd said. “It really is muscle memory.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Azzi Fudd turned injury rehab into WNBA 3-point contest history: 'Easy for me'
