Ahead of Saturday's highly anticipated three-point shootout between Warriors guard Stephen Curry and New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, Curry's teammate Klay Thompson shared his pick to win it all.
"I got the Bay Area's finest... Sabrina all day!"
— NBA (@NBA) February 13, 2024
Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-PT Challenge: 8:00pm/et #StateFarmSaturday (2/17) on TNT pic.twitter.com/EcWEFAReWm
The event, which has a WNBA player facing an NBA player in a three-point contest, is the first of its kind and there couldn’t be two better representatives to kick things off.
At the 2023 WNBA three-point contest in July, Ionescu scored a record 37 of 40 possible points and promptly challenged Curry — the NBA’s leader in three-pointers made — on social media.
The format of the contest closely resembles the standard three-point contest, with four racks, each with five balls (one being a two-point money ball) and a fifth all-money ball rack. The main difference is Curry will shoot with NBA balls and Ionescu will shoot with WNBA balls.
Initially, Ionescu was slated to shoot from the WNBA three-point line, which is roughly three feet closer to the basket than the NBA line, but requested to shoot from the NBA line.
This shouldn’t be a challenge for Ionescu, who regularly hits three-pointers from this range.
SAB FROM DEEEEEP @Sabrina_i20 makes it a 2-PT game for the Liberty on ESPN!#WNBAFinals | @YouTubeTV pic.twitter.com/T573mGlT2P
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 19, 2023
Curry, a two-time three-point contest winner, is going to have quite the challenge in Ionescu, who is coming off winning the 2023 WNBA three-point contest. Curry hasn't competed in the three-point shootout since his victory in the 2020-21 season.
The three-point shootout has easily become the most thrilling event on All-Star Saturday and the addition of this new wrinkle will only add to the excitement.
The contest is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday on TNT.
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