Three For All! Liberty's Ionescu Set to Battle Curry In All-Star 3-Point Contest

New York Liberty three-point queen Sabrina Ionescu will face Stephen Curry in a contest for the ages.

There will be triples aplenty at Lucas Oil Stadium on Feb. 17, but Adam Vinatieri and Mike Vanderjagt won't be around. 

The NBA and WNBA confirmed that legends of the deep ball Sabrina Ionescu and Stephen Curry will do three-point battle on All-Star Saturday in Indianapolis. Labeled "Stephen vs. Sabrina," the event will be staged in between the regularly scheduled 3-Point and Slam Dunk Contests.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty/USA TODAY SPORTS

Each will partake in what has been labeled "standard 3-Point Contest rules" and use their league's respective basketballs and three-point distances. Ionescu, however, has offered to shoot from the NBA three-point line in an X post released shortly after the news was unveiled. 

I’ll shoot from the NBA line… LETS GET IT!!!!!!! https://t.co/LmQEbMe4S5

— Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) January 30, 2024

Ionescu, currently a point guard for the New York Liberty, and Curry will play for their respective charities SI20 Foundation and Eat.Learn.Play. while every triple sunk will also lead to a donation from sponsor State Farm to the NBA Foundation. A standard triple nets $1,000 while a "money ball" and a "range ball" taken at an extended distance will respectively give $2,000 and $3,000.

The idea of matching Ionescu with the Golden State Warriors legend in a battle of triples has surfaced ever since the former set a 3-Point Contest record with 37 of a possible 40 points in the final round of last summer's WNBA competition in Las Vegas. That shattered the prior mark of 31 set by Curry during the NBA's 2021 long-distance shootout in Atlanta (since tied by Tyrese Haliburton in the opening round of last year's festivities in Salt Lake City).

Further momentum for the concept emerged last week when Curry, wearing a microphone for TNT's national coverage of the Warriors' Thursday tilt in Sacramento, suggested the idea to a teammate during his pregame warmup. Ionescu, fresh off hitting a WNBA record 128 three-pointers last season, enthusiastically accepted the challenge, setting the stage for the All-Star showcase.

Liberty Reigns in Team USA Olympic Training Camp Roster

An All-Star weekend collaboration/competition between NBA and WNBA stars will perhaps conjure memories of the "2Ball" competition, which saw male and female stars from hardwood markets face off. Knicks star Allan Houston was a mainstay in the showdown, working with Liberty stars like Rebecca Lobo, Becky Hammon, and Cappie Pondexter.

Both Ionescu and Curry will be back in New York City, namely the Brooklyn era, by the end of this week: Ionescu is one of three Liberty stars set to partake in training camp for the development of the United States' women's national basketball team's Olympic roster while Curry's Warriors are set to face the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.