WNBA All-Star Weekend 2025 was so unserious—and fans never wanted it to end.
For three days, the WNBA’s top players gathered in Indiana to represent the league and have a good time, with festivities leading up to a face-off between two All-Star teams led by Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier. But this wasn’t like any other All-Star Weekend in sports.
For the first time, fans were given an inside look at the players’ perspective thanks to Courtney Williams and Natisha Heidman, a.k.a. the Stud Budz, who regularly post livestreams on their joint Twitch account. The pair decided to stream the entire weekend for 72-hours straight, bringing fans directly into practices and parties (and more parties), resulting in rare candid moments with stars like Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Dijonai Carrington.
“We are so surprised, honestly, we did not know how much love we’d be getting,” Williams told USA Today of the streams’ popularity during All-Star Weekend. “I think people just love getting that behind the scenes, being so authentic, seeing players mess with us.”
If the goal of All-Star Weekend is to highlight the product of the WNBA, Williams and Heidman did that in spades, illustrating that the success and relevancy of this league does not rest on the shoulders of any one player or team—an important message as WNBA players fight for higher salaries amid CBA negotiations.
Of course, not all of the weekend’s viral moments came from the Stud Budz livestream, though plenty of them did. For the sake of keeping things PG and respecting players’ privacy as much as possible, we’re going to highlight just some of the funniest, sweetest, and most exciting moments you may not have seen on TV. Don’t worry you can find plenty more Stud Budz clips online when you’re done here.
Coach Cheryl Reeve’s “A.I.” Moment
Many fans were surprised to see famously strict Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve getting down with the StudBudz at an All-Star Weekend party—including Reeve, who denied all evidence the next day, blaming the viral videos on artificial intelligence.
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“You can’t believe everything that’s on the Internet,” Reeve joked on the Stud Budz stream the very next day. And AI, there was some sh*t on me last night, that was AI. That was AI…I was in bed.”
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Caitlin Clark Linking Up With Ellie the Elephant
Caitlin Clark sat next to New York Liberty mascot and icon Ellie the Elephant during the skills challenges on January 18. It seems she even tried to go through Ellie’s bag, though her attempts were thwarted.
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Paige Bueckers Hard-Launching Her Relationship With Azzi Fudd
Though UConn star Azzi Fudd has been rocking a “Paige Buecker’s girlfriend” phone case lately, fans were overwhelmed to hear Bueckers confirm the long-running relationship rumors by participating in Wag Talk, an interview series that highlights athletes’ partners. In this case, the Dallas Wings star rookie was asked questions about her “D1 girlfriend” before revealing Fudd’s name at the end of the clip. On TikTok alone, the video has 9.8 million views and 1.2 million likes.
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Fudd was in Indiana for All-Star Weekend and even threw her own party attended by the Stud Budz—and Heidman was particularly excited to hang out with the weekend’s “power couple.”
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Natasha Cloud and Izzy Harrison’s Rom-Com Moment
The way Natasha Cloud ran to scoop up teammate and girlfriend Izzy Harrison after winning the Kia WNBA Skills Challenge needs to be put in a rom-com.
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In a post-win interview, Cloud told ESPN she plans to use the prize money (roughly $55,000) to put a downpayment on their house. “This is for our family,” Cloud told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “This momma over here told me I better win today for a downpayment on a house, so baby, you’re gonna get that house.”
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Sabrina Ionescu’s Sportsmanship
After the skills challenge, Sabrina Ionescu took home the 3-point contest trophy, promising to share her winnings with rookie Sonia Citron, the only first-year competing in the evening’s skills challenges.
“I told Sonia that I would give her half if I won when we were sitting on the bench,” Ionescu told reporters during a press conference, per one video shared by Bleacher Report. “As being, like, the only rookie…She was nervous, and I was nervous for her. I obviously have to hold up my end of the bargain, so half is gonna go to her.”
She continued, “Just for participating, like, that takes a a lot of courage to be able to do that as a rookie…and I was really proud of her.
Read moreWNBA Star Sabrina Ionescu Promises to Split 3-Point Contest Prize Money With Rookie Sonia Citron
Sportsmanship at its finest.
Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers’ Friendship
One of the best friendships to come out of All-Star weekend was between Team Collier teammates Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese. In one video from team practice, Bueckers made Reese laugh by calling for “mebounds,” a phrase that was initially used to cyberbully the league’s rebound leader until she trademarked and reclaimed it as her own.
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Reese later shared a video of herself and Bueckers recording a TikTok dance, to the delight of fans. “This is so important to me,” one user commented, receiving over 19,000 likes.
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“Pay Us What You Owe Us”
As previously mentioned, the WNBA players are currently in the middle of collective bargaining agreement negotiations for higher salaries and a share in the league’s revenue. In a show of unity, all of the All-Stars wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” t-shirts during warmups for the big game on July 19.
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“We see the growth of the league, and as it stands, the current salary system is not really paying us what we’re owed,” WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said of the slogan, per ESPN. “And we want to be able to have that fair share moving forward, especially as we see all of the investment going in, and we want to be able to have our salaries reflected in a structure that makes sense for us.”
Following the game, the crowd was heard chanting “pay them more” as commissioner Cathy Engelbert presented Napheesa Collier the 2025 All-Star Game MVP trophy after her win against Team Clark. “That gave me chills,” Collier later said of the moment in a press conference.
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Breanna Stewart’s 10/10 Assist
Look, the All-Star Game itself was not much of a competition, with neither team opting to play any real defense. Still, fans probably didn’t expect to see Breanna Stewart of Team Collier purposefully give Team Clark rookie Kiki Iriafen a second chance at a four-point shot.
“This made me giggle, it was so wholesome,” one fan commented on a TikTok video about the exchange, while another wrote, “I giggled and kicked my feet when I saw that. Stewie w the assist!”
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Whatever Happened Between the Stud Budz and Diplo
It seemed Courtney Williams was not vibing with the music Diplo was originally playing at Sports Illustrated’s All-Star After Party on July 19. During the final hours of the Stud Budz stream, Williams was seen asking the famous DJ to change the music—and he obliged. Fans are not convinced Williams knew who Diplo was, which makes the whole thing even funnier.
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Either way, Diplo seemed to love the StudBudz as much as the rest of us, sharing a video with Williams on his own Instagram story. After all, he’s no stranger to live-streams…
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Can’t wait to do it all again next year. In the meantime, someone get the Stud Budz a talk show.
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We’re meeting fans where they are—with a message that matters.
The post WNBA All-Star Weekend: The 8 Best, Most Hilarious Moments You May Not Have Seen on TV appeared first on Glamour.
