Team Spoon Takes The 2026 WNBA All-Star Win

We break down the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game, from Team Spoon’s win to the biggest moments that made the night feel like a statement for where the league is heading. We also dig into the three-point contest, debate who belongs in the “best in the league” conversations, and pitch one change that could make All-Star Weekend even more fun.  
• Team Spoon winning 129 to 122 and why the game opens up  
• Caitlin Clark’s four early logo threes and what strength changes  
• Dominique Malonga’s All-Star dunk and what it signals  
• Kelsey Mitchell’s 28 points and the top scorer debate  
• Nneka Ogwumike becoming All-Star scoring leader at 127  
• Near triple-double lines and what they say about versatility  
• Jonquel Jones winning MVP and where she ranks on the Liberty  
• Azzi Fudd winning the WNBA three-point contest as a rookie  
• Sabrina Ionescu’s 37 record and whether Azzi can chase it  
• A nine-foot rim dunk contest idea for All-Star Weekend  
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Transcript

Welcome And What We’re Covering

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show, it's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, and as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about the WNBA 2026 All-Star Recap. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. If you know if you wonder where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate

Team Spoon Beats Team Coop

SPEAKER_00 0:23

your support. Now, what we're gonna talk about, the winners, right? Shout out Team Spoon. Okay, I thought Team Coop was gonna get the job done. I did think Team Spoon could win, obviously. My reasoning for Team Coop, I thought they had more two-way players, and I definitely thought that the game was gonna be a little closer than what it was throughout. The game was a little spread out score-wise, right? Tip of the cap to Team Spoon. Messing up my prediction. Now we had a couple of noteworthy moments, right, during this game. So I said, Team Spoon won 129 to 122. Despite what people have been saying, there was a little defense played. Maybe not in that first half, right? But in that second half, there was a little bit more defense played for sure. Caitlin Clark, he had four early logo threes, which were exciting to watch. I ain't gonna lie to y'all. Like she made four of them back to back. I got excited. Everybody was getting excited. Because again, that is cool to watch when you're watching basketball. Shout out Steph Curry, right? But afterwards, didn't have no more logo threes. But the fact that she knocked four of them out there definitely shows why people like her game. So that's that's why I said as she gets stronger, you'll see more of those during the game. And hitting at a better clip. But that's when strength's gonna come on. We gotta wait to see when that happens. But during this matchup, it was pretty spectacular. Just like watching Dominique Malonga dunk the game or dunk during the game,

Logo Threes And A Rare Dunk

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right? This is the seventh woman in WNBA's history to dunk in an all-star game. And the ninth woman in the WNBA's history to dunk, period. It was pretty spectacular. Nice game. Shout out to the rookie. Or I guess not rookie, this is her second year, right? Shout out to Dominique Malonga. I wish my Sparks could have drafted her. Storm got a great pick, I'm not gonna lie to you. 6'6, very mobile. Dunked the ball with ease. They were trying to throw the ball off the glass for her. I I she's gonna be in the All-Star game for sure for a little while. Like that's that's for certain. And then our fam, too. Oh my gosh. The WNBA is in such a good space right now, I promise you. Just like watching players like Kelsey Mitchell. She gave 28 points personally, because this was my pick for MVP All-Star game, right? Before the game started, right? She had 28 points, 11 of 19 from the field, 5 for 11 from three, and five steals. If the MVP didn't play the way they did, and if Team Spoon does not win, Kelsey Mitchell would have been MVP. So I was close, to be clear. But close only counseling horseshoes. Well, yeah, we won't talk about the other ways closest, close counseling. But again, Kelsey Mitchell definitely did her thing. Another noteworthy moment of the All-Star game. Hence why I've asked, is she a top 10 player? Is she a top five scorer? Those are things we got to talk about. Because 28 points daddy fishly, nothing to scall fat. Also, speaking of scoring, we got to give a tip of the cap to NECA Gumake, who becomes the all-time leading scorer in all-star history with 127 points. I ain't mad at that, NECA. Shout out to you, baby. Because again, she's she yeah, she's on my sparks. You know what I'm saying? She got my Sparks a championship. She's second all-time in all-star appearances, first in all-scoring, rebounding all my sparks. She's up there, bro. Like, NECA's NECA's becoming quite accomplished. Like when we're talking about her, obviously Hall of Fame career, right? But when we're talking about those all-time greats, we have to consider NECA Agumake as one of those players in those discussions. I'm talking about the Asia Wilsons and the Candace Parkers and the Elena Deldons and the Maya Moores. We're going to have to include the NECA. We have to include NECA Agumake. We have to, for sure. So, tip of the cap to NECA. Also, ladies and gentlemen, we did have close to two triple doubles. Olivia Miles, 11 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 turnover, by the way. You know, I love my assist turnover ratio. The one who usually gets the triple doubles or close to it, right? Jessica Shepard, she had seven points, five rebounds, five assists. I'm not counting that one, but it's not too far off, right? We also had Brandon Stewart, six points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, no turnovers. Not bad, not bad at all. I mean, if you want to count Dominique Malonga, 12 points, 13 rebounds. She didn't really have another category that was close to double digits, but you know, double-double, maybe that counts

Jonquel Jones MVP Ranking Debate

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for you. But the other one that was kind of most impressive, hence why she won MVP, was uh John Quell Jones. Now, current now, let's be clear. She has won finals MVP, league MVP, All-Star MVP, and if you want to count Commissioner Cup MVP too, like sure. But that's pretty that's pretty impressive. That's that's a lot of uh yeah, that's a lot of accolades right there. And so now, ladies and gentlemen, we gotta start asking ourselves where does John Quell Jones rank in terms of being the best player, not just on the WNBA's like ranking, but also on her team. Because if you want to say she's top five, okay, but could she be better than Brianna Stewart? That would be my very next question. And now think about it like this, right? She gave 20 points, 22 points, I'm sorry, 13 rebounds, eight assists. She's pretty spectacular from an offensive standpoint. Can she be a little streaky? She has. But I think this season she's been a lot more consistent, especially with the injuries that have occurred for the Liberty. Hey, she's been pretty good. So again, ladies and gentlemen, could we say John Quell Jones is the best player on her team? Oh no. I think that could be up for discussion. I think we could have a discussion, especially if you're talking about accolades. Especially if you're talking about accolades. How about most important player on the Liberty? I think that one's a little more. I think that one's hitting the target a little bit more. Best. Ah, because Stewie's also pretty good defensively. So is John Quell. But if I go offense, I'm leaning Stewie over John Quill personally. Defense, I'm I I can probably go Stewart John Quell, but I can also go Stewie. So I think I may lean Stewie over her personally. Satu, when healthy, she has a case for being better than John Quell also. But there's also a case for John Quell being better than Satu. And again, this is these are just my personal opinions. If you say John Quell's better than Stewie, I hear it. Because again, of what she's accomplished. Okay? But again, ladies and gentlemen, I think most important player on the Liberty is hitting the target a little bit more. Because if John Quell Jones is is dominating, I'm expecting everyone else to give quality production to the point that the Liberty are just ridiculous, which again, on paper, they are. So John Quell Jones, most important player on the Liberty, could be the right term. Best player in the league. Maybe there's a case. Maybe there's a case. I may, I might be willing to hear that. But again, ladies and gentlemen, the All-Star game, pretty spectacular. We had some good moments across the board. Happy to see some of the young players going in there, having fun, getting a bucket and hooping right. Next stage, would like to see a little bit more defense throughout the whole game. But other than that, it won't be bad. I won't be mad at it at all. Looking forward to the next one. I might even try to go to the next one, honestly.

AZ Fudd’s Rookie Three-Point Win

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But there was one more thing that happened during All-Star Weekend. Okay. Now there was another, there were technically two events. But I'm only going to talk about the one. The other one I don't really care about as much. Although, you know, I guess this is what was it, Skills Challenge, right? Lane Del Don shooting challenge. She did her thing. Cool. Shout out to her and Shakira, right? But the three-point contest, that's what I'm really focusing on, ladies and gentlemen. We gotta give a we gotta give kudos to AZ FUD, right? This is the first rookie to win the three-point contest. Now she gave a score of 24 in the first round, 30 in the title round. And keep in mind there's only been four rookies total to like participate in the three-point contest. We had Kelsey Mitchell, Ryan Howard, and Sonia Citron. Those are the other rookies outside of AZ FUD. And again, AZ's the only one to win the rookie of the three-point contest as a rookie. Now, again, she won it with 30. Sabrina Ionescu holds the record with 37. So as a rookie, AZ is seven points away from Sabrina who holds the record. Could we see AZ FUD breaking Sabrina Ionescu's record? Because when we're talking about consistency, AZ's form does have a lot of consistency. Especially if we're talking about set shooting. Like if you're talking about off the dribble, okay, it could differ a little bit, it could sway a little bit. If you're talking about off the catch, off the move, maybe. But off a set shot, it's pretty consistent. So it's Sabrina's, though. So I would actually love to see that matchup between AZ Fudd and Sabrina Ionescu from a three-point shooting contest. And then imagine if we throw him Caitlin Clark as well, too. Because let's be clear, the draw, like a a big draw has been from Caitlin Clark and her logo bombs, right? So again, I think adding those three in a shootout, that could be pretty spectacular. I was also thinking Kelsey Mitchell as well, too, because Kelsey can shoot the ball pretty well. Like she has good, effective, efficient numbers, ladies and gentlemen. I would love to see that. Bridget Carrollton. Bridget Carrollton also did pretty well. This was the final opponent versus AZ Fud. She's the one who lost she's the one who lost to AZ Fud in the championship game. And keep in mind, Bridget is fourth in made threes in the WA, at least at that point in time. She's at least fourth in made threes in the WNBA. Her score was 27 in the first round. So it's not like she can't shoot the ball, too, ladies and gentlemen. And I ain't gonna lie, she gave an excellent performance. Form looked good, consistent as well. So we may have to throw Bridget into the mix. Janelle Solon off the Valkyrie. She has the best three-point percentage, apparently. We're on street. And I'm wondering, okay, maybe if we get a wider base for her from her foot placement, could we see a Klay Thompson-like form? Like, could this be a lookalike for Klay Thompson? Because she brings up her form decently. It's consistent. So the upper body, I'm there with you. It's the lower body where I'm like, if you get a wider base, I think you can have some, you can be pretty consistent on that form. You could be pretty consistent on that form. And I and I'm really thinking Klay Thompson. That's what that's what I saw when I when I'm looking at her, right? We also have Marina Maybray, who again dropped 53 points in a game. Obviously, she can shoot the ball. She might be leading the league in three-point makes per game. Like that's you know, she's pretty spectacular. The Tisha Hydro, I think, is top 10 in three-point makes as well. So is Ryan Howard, I believe. Like, this was a good three-point contest winner. But I will say this, ladies and gentlemen.

A Nine-Foot Rim Dunk Contest Pitch

SPEAKER_00 11:56

If there was one thing that we could add to this All-Star weekend, if we lower the rim to nine feet, I would love to see a dunk contest. Because I'm telling you right now, Dominique Malonga just confirmed it for me. I need to see a dunk contest in the WNBA. I get the fact that women want to dunk on the 10-foot rim. I know that we have women who can dunk on a 10-foot rim. The creative P, like the windmills, that can be seen more on a nine-foot rim. So, like, please, WNBA, can we lower the rim to nine feet just for the dunk contest? I understand shooting that may change your form a little bit on a nine-foot rim. Let's just do it on a dunk contest. And I think that would be fair. I think that'll give the fans something different, something a little more exciting to see, right? Something new. And in a time where the commissioner of the WNBA was talking about, or at least being mom on the words of her being here next season. Like we might not have the commissioner next season. That might be something she might want to implement if she if she wants to stay. Just saying. And if you're the new commissioner, I hope you listen and add this. Implement this, please, to the agenda. Because like I said, I'm looking to go. But, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the

Your Takes And Final Sign-Off

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end of the episode. And I'm curious, what did you all think about the All-Star game? What did you think about the three-point contest? Was there anything that I missed that you wish I talked about? Or was there something I said that you felt like was wrong? I want to know your thoughts. Also, from the three-point contest, does this mean now that we should expect AZ Fudd to be viewed as the best shooter in the WNBA from the three-point? I mean, she won the contest in decent fashion, too. And she averaged 27 points throughout the whole round. Both rounds. That's pretty spectacular. Again, that's what got Bridget Carleton into the championship game was that 27 point in the first round. So should we start looking at AZ Foot as the best shooter in the game? I want to know your thoughts. But, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Good The Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.