The challenge’s roots date back to July, when Sabrina Ionescu shattered the WNBA — and NBA — 3-point shooting contest record, Stephen Curry followed a “RIDICULOUS” reaction on X with a challenge for the pair to compete and the Liberty star accepted.
At some point, when their schedules overlapped in a location with a basket and an arc and a method to track each of their makes behind it, there’d be a showdown.
That’ll happen six months later, when the NBA All-Star Weekend unfolds between Feb. 16- 18 in Indianapolis, and Ionescu and Curry, the Warriors star, will have a 3-point “shootout,” according to The Athletic.
“Let’s getttttt it!! See ya at the 3 pt line,” Ionescu wrote on X on Thursday night, adding an eyes emoji while tagging her opponent.
Curry, again, brought up the idea Thursday while wearing a microphone before the Warriors’ game against the Kings, testing Golden State teammate Brandin Podziemski about whether he knew who held the 3-point competition record.
“I think I gotta bring her out and be like, ‘We gotta settle this once and for all,” Curry told Podziemski.
3-point shots in 2023. Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
against the Hawks on Wednesday. AP
Podziemski then said his agent Bill Duffy — who also represents Ionescu — told him a competition between the pair could occur during All-Star Weekend, though the details of the event still remain unclear after The Athletic’s report and the Curry-Podziemski conversation.
When Ionescu set the record last summer, she made 25 of 27 shots but insisted in an on-court interview that she “wasn’t sure how many I missed.”
Her 37 points topped the previous WNBA record of 30 (Allie Quigley) and the NBA’s record of 31, set by Curry and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.
“I gotta go after Sabrina’s record, I got something to shoot for now that she went crazy with the 37 points in their All-Star weekend,” Curry said in a July interview on “NBA Today” about Ionescu’s record. “We gotta settle that one, for sure, who’s the better 3-point competition shooter.”
Ionescu, who helped the Liberty advance to the WNBA Finals before falling to Vegas, set the league’s single-season record for 3-pointers with 128 in 36 games, surpassing Diana Taurasi’s 121 across 34 from 2006.
She connected on those shots from beyond the arc at a 44.8 percent clip, helping her average 17.0 points per game alongside other stars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot who helped the Liberty earn the No. 2 seed for the postseason.
Curry took over the NBA’s top spot for all-time leader in 3-point makes in 2021-22, moving past Ray Allen during a game against the Knicks.
He has converted 40.1 percent of his shots from beyond the arc this season entering Thursday.
He was 6-for-14 beyond the arc on Thursday night, scoring 33 points in the Warriors’ 134-133 loss to the Kings.
