Caitlin Clark originally planned to compete in the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend festivities. Unfortunately, an aggravated groin injury sidelined her. Despite the medical excuse for not participating, reports suggested she declined an invite to the three-point contest for a petty reason. Clark recently broke her silence to refute that claim.
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Not every player has the privilege of becoming an All-Star in their respective sport, and those who do take great pride in participating in the event festivities. Clark is no different. After all, in just her second season, she was the highest vote-getter of any player.
If that wasn’t enough of an incentive to take part in All-Star Weekend, Indianapolis was the host city. Clark had the opportunity to represent the fan base she plays in front of throughout the season on the grand stage. If it weren’t for her injury, she would certainly have been on the court.
Clark could have gotten a taste of the three-point contest during the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Weekend. The league was looking to expand on the success of Sabrina Ionescu and Stephen Curry’s duel in 2024 and wanted to pit her against an NBA counterpart in a similar setup. But CC politely declined.
Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal reported that he knew the reason. “Sources said Clark is not interested in shooting 3-pointers off of a ball rack — considering her practice regimen consists only of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers or shots off the dribble,” Friend said.
Whoever his sources are, he shouldn’t trust them again. Clark kept quiet about the statement for several months but finally addressed them during her media availability prior to her July 15 game against the Connecticut Sun.
“I guess, I mean, I’m shooting off a rack. And I know there was a narrative going around that I didn’t wanna do that at one point. Which, I’m not sure who made that up, but that’s false,” Clark said.
The reason she didn’t want to participate in the NBA’s three-point contest had nothing to do with shooting off a rack. It had everything to do with location. “I was just saving my first three-point competition [for] my home city,” Clark proclaimed.
The topic of that entire debacle came up during Clark’s appearance on Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe’s A Touch More podcast. She added more insight regarding her reaction to Friend’s report.
“I don’t know who wrote the article, but I’m sure they didn’t feel great about themselves after I did that. I don’t know who their source was, but whoever their source was was wrong,” Clark said.
Clark will always be at the front of the media’s attention. She can’t dispute everything that is said about her, but she will defend herself against claims that are too outlandish to allow to spread. Friend just stepped over that line.
