Fans Suspect Caitlin Clark's NBA All-Star Decline Foiled Steph Curry, Ionescu Rematch
Over the past few months, one of the worst-kept secrets in the basketball world was that there were discussions for a rematch of sorts for the iconic Steph Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu three-point contest at the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, which would occur at the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend.
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania confirmed this with a November 15 report that wrote, "Curry and Ionescu are in strong conversations to return in a variation of the shootout, which could include other NBA and WNBA players such as Klay Thompson and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever, sources said."
However, news broke last month that Clark had declined this invitation to compete in this 2025 event.
"Caitlin Clark has formally declined an invitation to be part of a male vs. female 3-point contest at next month's NBA All-Star Game, preferring to make her 3-point shooting debut at the WNBA All-Star Game at her home arena in July," Tom Friend wrote in a January 29 article from Sports Business Journal.
"Caitlin will not be at NBA All-Star," her representatives at Excel Sports Management are quoted saying in the article. "She wants her first three-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer."
This sentiment is fair enough for Clark. However, this decision might have caused the entire Curry vs. Ionescu rematch to go awry because it was revealed on February 13 that a 2025 version of the three-point contest won't be taking place at all during NBA All-Star Weekend.
Many fans are convinced that Clark saying no to this opportunity is what ultimately caused the whole idea to crumble.
"they didn’t feel like doing it no more once caitlin declined, let’s be real lol," one X user said in response to a post discussing the 2025 contest not happening.
they didn’t feel like doing it no more once caitlin declined, let’s be real lol https://t.co/0rzmfgOGLA
— SJ (@SJBasketball8) February 13, 2025
"This is not the first time that everyone assumed CC was gonna do something, made a big deal out of it, then had to do a surprised Pikachu face when she said no," another fan added.
This is not the first time that everyone assumed CC was gonna do something, made a big deal out of it, then had to do a surprised Pikachu face when she said no https://t.co/tS8LmBdD1K
— CC Report - on Campus (@cc22report) February 13, 2025
A third added, "No Caitlin Clark sources tell me".
No Caitlin Clark sources tell me
— OG Anunoby Addict (@PlayoffBoundNYK) February 13, 2025
Perhaps Curry will be inclined to compete against Clark and Ionescu at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend, which takes place on the Fever's home court.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.