Steph versus Sabrina: Must-see 3-point contest
Put two great basketball minds together (Sabrina Ionescu and Steph Curry) and get one great All-Star idea.
Ionescu, the New York Liberty’s star guard, won the 2023 WNBA 3-point contest in July, and Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ star guard, took note of Ionescu’s record-setting 37-point final round, making 25 of 27 3-pointers, including 20 consecutive. Curry posted on social media, “Ridiculous,” and Ionescu responded, “Shoot out?”
By night’s end, Ionescu and Curry, who share a Bay Area connection, were on the phone, discussing the idea, which became a tentative plan that became fruition.
Ionescu and Curry, a two-time NBA 3-point contest winner, the game’s alltime leader in made 3s and the greatest shooter, will meet in a 3-point contest at NBA All-Star Weekend on Saturday in Indianapolis.
“It’s not like I’m joining the NBA’s 3point contest,” Ionescu said. “But we’re really having our own and the significance and importance of that and kind of just having that idea stem from a joke and now being able to see it come to life and knowing that it’s going to be a great experience for us both and exciting to see obviously who the winner is, but what it’s going to mean for basketball as a whole.”
Said Curry: “Watching what she did at all-Star weekend, watching what the WNBA season was like, how it’s continuing to grow and then understanding there’s a nice connection here that’s an authentic competition between two great shooters who’ve had success in a 3-point contest and now you’re trying to level the playing field. ‘Let’s see who the best shooter is on that given night.’
“However it plays out is what sports is about. It’s just competing, whatever the format is.”
The event is Saturday and will take place after the 3-point contest and before the slam dunk contest. TNT will televise NBA All-Star Saturday Night with coverage beginning at 8 ET.
Why does Ionescu believes this event is important? “It’s just continuing to raise the bar and to give us the opportunities to be on this platform, understanding it being on TV and young girls and young boys being able to watch it and understanding how important visibility is and knowing that there’s going to be a young kid who maybe hasn’t watched many WNBA games but is going to watch and tune into this and they’re going to have that dream of one day going up and shooting against their idol and knowing what that’s going to mean and how that’s going to change the landscape of sports.”
Said Curry: “We’re having this moment and reshaping how people think about just competition in general. You’ve got kids that are in gyms and boys and girls playing, shooting, playing, pickup, whatever the case is, reimagining what competition really looks like at the same time. And this can kind of be a moment for that.”