When Sabrina Ionescu takes the court for Friday night’s 3-point contest, she won’t be competing against just her fellow All-Stars.
She’ll be chasing more history.
“My goal is to try and beat my record,” Ionescu said after her Liberty’s 98-77 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night. “Not sure if that’s going to happen, but I’m staying optimistic.”
This year’s All-Star weekend in Indianapolis marks Ionescu’s first time participating in the 3-point contest since 2023, when she won the event behind 37 points in the final round — the most ever for a WNBA or NBA player.
“I just wanted to go out there and have fun,” Ionescu, 27, said. “I think All-Star is a really fun weekend for the fans. I obviously know everyone’s wanted me to do it again since I’ve done it last, so I think this weekend presented a great opportunity to be able to go out there, have fun and see what happens.”
Ionescu is set to be joined in the competition at Gainbridge Fieldhouse by Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum, Washington’s Sonia Citron and Atlanta’s Allisha Gray, who won the contest last year.
Fever superstar Caitlin Clark had also committed to participate, but she announced Thursday that she would sit out of the 3-point contest and the All-Star Game on her home court after suffering a right groin injury this week.
Ionescu ranks fifth in the WNBA with 50 made 3-pointers.
While Ionescu did not take part in last year’s WNBA 3-point contest, she faced Stephen Curry in a head-to-head 3-point shootout during the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend and narrowly lost, 29-26.
Ionescu said she is “excited to be able to participate” in the WNBA 3-point contest for a second time.
“I had to really just wait to see what my schedule was going to look like, because that was really the determining factor,” Ionescu said.
“There’s a lot jammed into a very short amount of time, and then you come back and you just get thrown into games. For me, it was just trying to see, one, if I was even available that night, and, two, how my weekend shaked out.”
Ionescu isn’t the only Liberty player set to compete in the All-Star festivities. She and Breanna Stewart were both selected for Saturday night’s All-Star Game, while Natasha Cloud is set to compete in Friday night’s skills challenge.
Gray, who also won the skills challenge last year, returns this year to defend her title, while Minnesota’s Courtney Williams and Seattle’s Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler are also set to participate.
In her first season with the Liberty, Cloud is tied for third in the NBA with 6.0 assists per game, and she is averaging 9.9 points.
“We’re confident in her,” Ionescu said of Cloud. “[She is] able to do a little bit of everything — she can pass, dribble, obviously she’s really fast, shoot — so I think she’s really excited. We’re gonna be there supporting her and cheering her on, and hopefully one of us wins.”
