The 2025 WNBA All-Star festivities begin Friday night with the 3-point contest and Skills Challenge competitions. Each event will feature five of the league’s top performers with more than just bragging rights on the line — they’ll be playing for cash prizes.
This year, insurance partner Aflac has teed up a $60,000 prize for the winner of the 3-point contest and another $55,000 for the winner of the skills challenge. The WNBA will chip in another $2,575 to the winner of each contest.
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Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray is the only player participating in both the 3-point contest and skills challenge this year, fresh off a 2024 victory in both competitions — the first player in WNBA history to win both events in the same year.
Here’s a look at all you need to know about this year’s WNBA 3-point contest and skills challenge:
2025 WNBA 3-point contest: Participants, rules, format
On the rules for the 3-point contest, WNBA.com shares:
The WNBA STARRY® 3-Point participants will compete in a two-round, timed competition with ball racks positioned at five main shooting locations around the three-point arc. Four of the racks contain four official WNBA game balls worth one point each and one “money” ball worth two points. The fifth rack will be a special “all money ball” rack with every ball worth two points; each competitor will choose their preferred spot for the “all money ball” rack from among the five shooting locations.
In addition, two ball pedestals will be positioned at deep shot locations called “The STARRY® Range.” Each pedestal will hold one special “STARRY® ball”; shots made with the “STARRY® ball” are worth three points. The two players with the highest scores in the First Round will advance to the Final Round.
This year, the following participants will take the court:
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Sonia Citron (Washington Mystics)
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Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream)
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Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty)
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Kelsey Plum (Los Angeles Sparks)
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Lexie Hull (Indiana Fever, replacing Caitlin Clark)
Ionescu and Gray have both taken home previous wins in the event, in 2023 and 2024, respectively. In 2023, Ionescu set the all-time record for the 3-point contest in both the WNBA and NBA with a high score of 37 in the final round. Ionescu sits as the odds-favorite to win the event with +125 odds on BetMGM Sportsbook, while Allisha Gray sits at +375.
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2025 WNBA Skills Challenge
WNBA.com describes the skills challenge as “a timed obstacle course that tests a variety of basketball skills: dribbling, bounce pass, chest pass and outlet pass, and shots that include an elbow jumper, a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, and a corner three.”
The participants in this year’s skills challenge competition include:
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Natasha Cloud (New York Liberty)
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Skylar Diggins (Seattle Storm)
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Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream)
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Erica Wheeler (Seattle Storm)
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Courtney Williams (Minnesota Lynx)
Gray is favored to repeat as the winner of this year’s skill challenge, with odds at +275 on BetMGM Sportsbook, closely followed by Skylar Diggins at +325, Natasha Cloud at +340 and Courtney Williams at +360.
Why isn’t Caitlin Clark participating?
Though Clark committed to the event, she suffered a groin injury on Tuesday night, as she and the Indiana Fever faced off against the Connecticut Sun. The injury came late in the game, with just 39.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
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Fever head coach Stephanie White told reporters after the game that Clark “felt a little something in her groin.” The injury comes just four games out from a previous groin injury that forced her to miss five games between late June and early July. It’s unclear if Clark’s injury is a re-aggravation of her previous groin injury or a new one.
Date: Friday, July 18
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse | Indianapolis, Indiana
TV channel: ESPN, ESPN+
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more from the 2025 WNBA All-Star 3-point contest and skills challenge:
