In a recent episode of the Run It Back podcast, NBA Insider Shams Charania announced that the league has planned a three-point shootout contest between NBA and WNBA stars Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu during the All-Star weekend. Curry and Ionescu are two of the best long-range shooters in the league, with Ionescu particularly stealing the show last year with her 37-point performance at WNBA’s 3-point winning contest.
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Though Charania is yet to reveal further details for this contest, the showdown between Curry and Ionescu is expected to occur on Saturday, 18 February, during the All-Star Weekend. It’s a highly anticipated showdown of this year’s All-Star weekend, resulting from a challenge posed by Ionescu almost a year ago to Curry finally coming to place.
Will the showdown between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu be part of the 3-point contest?
The much-anticipated three-point showdown between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu is not part of the All-Star weekend’s regular three-point contest. In fact, it’s a separate event on its own, stemming from an iconic challenge posed by the New York Liberty star to the Golden State Warriors veteran last year.
Interestingly, the contest will follow a similar format to the regular 3-point competition, a staple event in the NBA’s All-Star festivities. The challenge materialized following Ionescu’s viral tweet last year, challenging Stephen Curry to a shootout after breaking the WNBA All-Star event record for the most points scored in a three-point contest last summer.
Furthermore, the anticipation of this impending event heated up on Thursday night when Stephen Curry talked about this potential challenge with teammate Brandin Podziemski. Speaking to the Warriors rookie, a mic-ed up Curry said,
“I think I gotta bring her out. We gotta settle this once and for all. I think I gotta challenge her. Hell yeah!”
In the NBA, players shoot threes from a distance of 22 feet in the corners and 23 feet, 9 inches in other sports. For the WNBA, the 3-point line is uniformly set at 20 feet, 6 inches across the floor.
According to recent reports, Curry and Ionescu will follow standard ‘Starry’ 3-point contest rules, which stipulate four racks with four game balls and a money ball, a fifth special money ball rack(placement is decided by the shooter), and two Starry Range balls. The game ball is worth 1 point, the money ball worth 2 points, and the two Starry Range shots fetch 3 points.
Another important update on the contest is that Curry will shoot from the NBA 3-point line with NBA game balls while Ionescu will shoot from the WNBA 3-point line with WNBA basketballs. However, Ionescu has reportedly declared that she’ll shoot from the NBA 3-point line to make things more equal.
What are the charities involved in this contest?
Charania revealed that this contest would have a charity component and not be part of the regular 3-point shootout contest held between players during the All-Star weekend. More details are yet to emerge regarding this extremely exciting event for this year’s All-Star festivities.
Who has a better record in scoring three-pointers?
Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu have proved to be two of the most prolific shooters in their respective leagues. This will be the first crossover between the NBA and the WNBA, which makes it even more special. Curry is a two-time 3-point contest champion with the NBA record of scoring 31 of 40 three points during the 2021 contest. The Dubs superstar boasts a career shooting percentage of 42.6 percent from long distance, which compliments his abilities, proving himself to be one of the greatest shooters in the league.
On the other hand, Ionescu set a WNBA record last summer, scoring 37 points in the league’s All-Star weekend while shooting 44.8 percent from long distance in the previous season. Ionescu banked 25 of 27 shots during last summer’s WNBA All-Star event but insisted, in an on-court interview, that she wasn’t sure of the number of shots she had missed. Ionescu’s feat topped the previous WNBA record of 30 set by Allie Quigley and the NBA’s record of 31 by Curry and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.
If we assess the career averages of Ionescu and Curry, we can easily determine how Steph Curry is a better three-point shooter than Sabrina Ionescu. The Dubs superstar has revolutionized the game, hitting a staggering 3,562 threes out of 8,348 attempts. Perhaps Curry could be the only player in the game’s history to hit over 4k threes by the time he retires from the game.
On the other hand, Sabrina Ionescu has played only four seasons in the WNBA as of now. The New York Liberty star is a career 37.7% shooter from behind the arc and had witnessed her best shooting last season, hitting 44.8% of her three-pointers. To come even remotely close to Curry’s current averages, Ionescu would have to hit over .400 consistently throughout her career.
