Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry wants to have a 3-point shootout with New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu.
Ionescu is the NCAA’s all-time leader in triple-doubles and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft after enjoying a successful collegiate career at Oregon.
The two-time WNBA All-Star also won the WNBA’s 3-point contest last season, shooting 37-of-40 (92.5 percent) in the process. She had a record-setting final round. She challenged Curry to a shootout afterward and five months later, the Golden State sharpshooter did not forget.
Curry, who is one of the best to ever compete in the NBA’s 3-point contest and holds the record for the most 3-pointers made in league history, said he officially wants a chance to go one-on-one against her.
“I think I gotta bring her out…we gotta settle this once and for all.”@StephenCurry30 challenges @sabrina_i20 👀 pic.twitter.com/dUG2MFusAX
— NBA (@NBA) January 26, 2024
While he was mic’d up for a game, here is what Curry said to rookie teammate Brandin Podziemski:
“Do you know who holds the record for the most points in a 3-point competition? … I think I gotta bring her out and be like, we gotta settle this once and for all. … I think I gotta challenge her. It’d be lit.”
Podziemski said that he could potentially help set it up because he shares an agent, Bill Duffy, with Ionescu. Duffy (like Podziemski) attended Santa Clara University and he also resides in Walnut Creek in California (which is where Ionescu was born and raised).
Curry, however, may not need Podziemski’s help to make this happen.
Exciting competition planned: A 3-point Shootout between Golden State’s Stephen Curry and WNBA NY Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu at NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, sources say. Two 3-point contest champions. Curry hinted at the possibility tonight while mic’d up vs. Kings. pic.twitter.com/ccXYRsxj4B
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 26, 2024
According to Shams Charania, this is already more than just an idea for Curry. Charania said that there was an “exciting competition planned” between Curry and Ionescu at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.
Ionescu, who grew up in the Bay Area watching the Warriors, has said that Curry has a mentorship role in her life (via Uproxx):
“I talk to [Steph] regularly,” Ionescu tells Dime. “It’s always a full circle moment to be able to grow up watching them on TV and on a court, and then be able to pick up the phone and call them if you need to. I know what that feels like, and I want to be that for younger athletes as well, using that experience that I have to want to be that mentor for a lot of others as well. I never want to take those moments for granted.”
Although it maybe didn’t always sit well with the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals, Ionescu will occasionally hit the “night night” celebration on the court as a tribute to Stephen Curry.
Whoever wins the shootout between Curry and Ionescu, though, we can probably expect to see the celebration used against the other.
