Sabrina Ionescu Ready to Rep Liberty, Women's Basketball in 'Battle of the Sexes' With Steph Curry
Most NBA All-Star participants bear the weight of conference pride on their shoulders. Sabrina Ionescu may have a whole league ... some would argue the prospects of an entire sport ... on the back of her New York Liberty jersey.
Ionescu is one of the special guests participating in the NBA's annual All-Star Saturday festivities at Lucas Oil Stadium (8 p.m. ET, TNT). Whereas most WNBA guests have often been relegated to Friday cameos (i.e. the celebrity showcase), the Liberty star is set to headline one of the most prominent examples of how far women's basketball has come since she first stepped onto professional hardwood in 2020.
After Jalen Brunson and Co. do battle in the annual Three-Point Contest, Ionescu will face off in a one-on-one long-distance shootout with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry labeled "Steph Vs. Sabrina." It will be staged between the standard Three-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk showcase, the latter of which will feature fellow New Yorker Jacob Toppin.
Brandon Todd, New York Liberty
The Bay Area icons (Ionescu's hometown of Walnut Creek, CA is a half-hour drive from Curry's dwelling of Chase Center) have routinely gone viral for their antics from deep: Curry's three-point shooting is said to have changed the course of the NBA landscape while Ionescu is fresh off a three-point jackpot earned during the WNBA Three-Point Contest in Las Vegas this past summer.
Ionescu hitting 25-of-27 attempts to clinch a victory over former fellow bearer of seafoam Sami Whitcomb prompted the idea of a co-ed battle, but the two hoisters are well-tuned with each one's game.
Curry's longevity is perhaps best defined by the fact that a young Ionescu obtained any piece of No. 30 merchandise she could get her hands on. Ionescu's collegiate endeavors at Oregon were frequently compared to those of Curry. With further coverage dedicated to the women's game, it's not hard to see a modern Ionescu scouting report comparing her to, say WNBA Finals adversary Kelsey Plum.
Ionescu's willingness to continue to push is perfectly personified by her Saturday showing, as she immediately suggested shooting from the NBA line, which is over a foot and seven inches farther back than the WNBA edition.
"(I want) to push the limits of what's been done," Ionescu said in the lead-up to All-Star Weekend. "It was a no-brainer from when it was first presented that I wanted to shoot from the NBA line and continue to just prove that we're capable and we're willing. It's not something that took a lot of convincing, knowing that I wanted to continue to just equal the playing field and do so when it matters and on the biggest stage."
"I'm very thankful that I was given that opportunity and I'm goning to capitalize on it."
To say Ionescu has single-handedly fueled the turning of the tide in women's sports would be foolish: whereas Ionescu was perhaps one of a handful of household names on both the amateur and professional levels, several (i.e. Angel Reese, A'ja Wilson) are now commonly listed among the lists of trending athletes. But as one of the first main attractions, there's no denying she has been forced to bear a burden for quite a while, and she's been praised for handling that load gracefully.
"With regards, to representing women's basketball, that's been her life for a while," Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said while supervising her work at Team USA Olympic training camp. "This wave of enthusiasm, (this event) is probably going to accelerate that even more. There will be a lot of eyes on it for sure."
"Male or female, it doesn't matter. I hope that's what the stamp that's been on this. It's not going to matter. You can shoot you can shoot whether it's male or female."
While falling short of a full-on victory lap, Ionescu's battle with Curry is a landmark for women's sports, is nonetheless a stirring landmark for the game. The showdown comes as Caitlin Clark and Juju Watkins transformed themselves into household names on the collegiate level and hours after Paige Bueckers' decision to stay on for another year at the University of Connecticut dominated the relentless 24-hour news cycle.
One perhaps could hardly envision a resident of Westchester County Center ... the cozy White Plains home of Toppin's G League Knicks and where Ionescu would've hypothetically played her first Liberty minutes had she entered the league a year early ... doing one-on-one battle with a bonafide legend of the men's game, but it's an exciting reality in 2024.
Ionescu minced no words about her visions for the future concerning an event like "Steph vs. Sabrina" in the future.
"It's the start of many, and it's not something that's just a one-time thing," Ionescu firmly declared. "I think it's an opportunity to see how it works and to continue to kind of push ... It's an opportunity for this to be the first time but understanding that there's room for more and continuing to put us on that stage and understanding that when you put us out there, we do succeed."
Ionescu and Curry's coming battle has drawn fleeting comparisons to the "Battle of the Sexes," a series of co-ed tennis matches headlined by Billie Jean King's upset victory over Bobby Riggs in 1973. Whereas an aura of animosity lingered over those battles (with King famously gifting Riggs a piglet before her victory), Ionescu was partly drawn to battle with Curry thanks in part to his own faith in what she and her cohorts are building.
"You've got kids that are in gyms, boys and girls playing, shooting, playing pick up, whatever the case is, it's reimagining what competition really looks like at the same time. This can kind of be a moment for that," Curry said of the potential lasting implications. "Whatever else comes out of it, we're going to continue to tap in and invest in moments like these, ones that can move the needle. That's all the effort we can control and I'm excited."
