Inside The WNBA's History-Making 2026 All-Star Weekend

This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the WNBA All-Star Weekend festivities, and the W did it big.

WNBA Shooting Stars Challenge

It started Friday night with a remix of the typical Skills Challenge, going the Shooting Stars route. 

The competition consisted of four teams, each with three players representing different eras of basketball by way of a WNBA legend, a current player, and a Nike EYBL standout. Each would have 70 seconds to make as many buckets as possible from seven spots on the floor. 

In the end, it was Team Washington, represented by a trio of Shakira Austin, Elena Delle Donne, and high schooler Jezelle “GG” Banks, who won the competition. 

WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest

Next up was the 3-point contest, with several WNBA sharpshooters taking part—sans Caitlin Clark—like Bridget Carleton, Azzi Fudd, Rhyne Howard, Janelle Salaün, Marina Mabrey, and Natisha Hiedeman.

Carleton started heating up early in round one with an impressive 29 points, and was closely followed by Fudd with 24. Both of them advanced to the second round, and Fudd showed out with a 30-point performance in the end to win the 3-point contest. She made history as the first rookie and first Wings player to earn the honor.

The Friday festivities were over because the WNBA doesn’t have a dunk contest (yet), and hype moved on to Saturday’s All-Star Game.

WNBA All-Star Game

Squads were led by legendary coaches Teresa Weatherspoon and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.

Team Spoon had stars like Caitlin Clark, Jonquel Jones, Olivia Miles, StudBudz own Courtney Williams, and A’ja Wilson.

Team Coop was also stacked, with Paige Bueckers, Marina Mabrey, Angel Reese, and Breanna Stewart.

It was Clark who started the game off hot with three logo threes in the first few minutes before cooling off and ending the game with 17 points.

While defense was optional for much of the game, offense remained hot, as Marina Mabrey seemed to be Team Coop’s response, who had a solid night of her own with 23 points, shooting 5-10 from three.

Before the first half ended, with Team Spoon up 81-64, history was made.

Nneka Ogwumike’s eight points in the first half were just enough to make her the WNBA All-Star Game all-time leading scorer, breaking Maya Moore’s record with 127 points. Towards the end of the second quarter, 20-year-old Dominique Malonga also made history as the youngest player to dunk in the WNBA All-Star Game when Angel Reese tossed her a pass into the paint, and she had the go-ahead one-handed slam.

Team Spoon dominated the game most of the way, and even when in reach, Team Coop was never able to gain momentum, as the game ended with Team Spoon winning 129-122.

Jonquel Jones’ 22 points helped her win the MVP award and made history with a laundry list of accomplishments. It makes her the first WNBA player to earn regular-season MVP, Commissioner’s Cup MVP, and Finals MVP.

In a night full of WNBA firsts, perhaps the most promising is a record-breaking WNBA All-Star Game attendance of 19,783, showing just how much the league has expanded despite a few growing pains. 

See reactions to the game below.