Sabrina Ionescu, Indiana crowd make WNBA All-Star Friday night a 'great show' despite Caitlin Clark's absence

INDIANAPOLIS -- Early Friday morning, hours before she won the WNBA's 3-Point Contest for a second time with a historic 30-point score in the final round, Sabrina Ionescu sat at a podium on the practice court deep inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse and made a surprising admission. 

"I haven't practiced once to be completely honest, so first time practicing will be tonight," Ionescu said. "We'll see how this goes."

Why bother with practice when you can shoot like Ionescu? 

Afterward, she said her goal for the first go-around was simply to advance. She went out and put up 25 points, tying reigning champion Allisha Gray for the highest score in the opening round. That set up a showdown between herself and Gray, the last two winners of the league's premier All-Star Friday event. 

Ionescu was up first in the final round, and started in the far corner, right in front of Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe -- two of the 15,000-plus fans filling the Fieldhouse. Pau Gasol, who Ionescu is "really close with," was there too, a fact she was "super happy about." Nearly all of them were soon standing and watching in awe as Ionescu put on another clinic. 

After missing her first two shots, Ionescu drained 11 in a row, including every shot on her "money ball" rack from the left wing, and the first of the long-range 3-Point Starry shots. She finished with 30 points, tying the second-highest score in a single round in competion history. 

Ionescu couldn't quite match her 2023 performance, when she made 20 shots in a row at one point and finished with 37 points to set the all-time 3-Point Contest record between the NBA and WNBA, but she left Gray with little hope. The Dream's lefty sniper was eliminated with two racks to go. 

Winners and losers from WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest, Skills Challenge: Sabrina Ionescu outduels Allisha Gray

Isabel Gonzalez

"I don't count, so I had no idea what I was at," Ionescu said. "Obviously I knew I wasn't gonna get it when I missed a few on the front end, but I could have gotten close. I just missed some easy ones at the end. I knew I was high up there and I think I locked out a little bit and started listening to the crowd. But 30's not too bad. Happy with 30. Just want to be where my feet are at and not beat myself up too much about not getting the record. Maybe I'll get it one day."

After sharing pleasantries with commissioner Cathy Engelbert -- not exactly her best friend -- Ionescu raised the trophy at center court and spoke about how much it meant for her to win this year in Indianapolis, the site of her loss to Stephen Curry in a special NBA vs. WNBA shootout at the NBA's 2024 All-Star Weekend.

"It means everything. The last time I was here in Indy against Steph I lost, so I feel like I had to come back and redeem myself," Ionescu said. 

Even if Ionescu had not brought it up herself, it would have been impossible not to think of the showdown with Curry in the context of everything that's happened this week. 

Back in February, the NBA was trying desperately to put together a two-on-two version of the NBA vs. WNBA shootout at their All-Star Weekend in the Bay Area. The plan, which never came to fruition, would have seen Ionescu team up with Caitlin Clark to take on Curry and another NBA star, likely his former Golden State Warriors teammate Klay Thompson. 

Clark declined because she wanted her first 3-point contest to be in Indianapolis, and the event never happened. 

"They obviously really wanted me and Sabrina to do it, maybe a couple other people as well. I was like, well, that would make the one here not as fun," Clark said Friday during a live taping of Bird and Rapinoe's podcast at a comedy club a few blocks from the arena. "And it's in your own city. I was gonna do it no matter what. I wanted my first one to be here in front of our fans."

On Tuesday, Clark was officially announced as a participant for the 3-Point Contest, which was billed as a showdown between her and Ionescu. Just a few hours later, during the Indiana Fever's win over the Connecticut Sun, Clark tweaked her right groin -- her third soft tissue injury of the season -- and walked to the bench in tears. By Thursday, Clark had ruled herself out of both the 3-Point Contest and the All-Star Game, which she was set to captain.

Come Friday night, Clark was sitting courtside in street clothes watching Ionescu lift the trophy. The juxtaposition was too much to ignore. Ionescu could have made every single shot she took in both rounds and there still would have been some what-ifs about a potential matchup between her and Clark in front of the Fever fans. 

Clark's injury has been a major blow to the on-court action this weekend, but not to the overall energy in the city. "She means a lot more to the game than just showing up and playing," said Ionescu, who has reached out to Clark to try and help her deal with her injury problems. "I think you're able to see that with the excitement in Indy right now regardless of if she's playing or not."

That was particularly evident Friday. From the time the Liberty's star mascot, Ellie, made her way on to the court to hype up the fans half an hour before the festivities began, until Skills Champion Natasha Cloud was draping a gold chain around Ionescu's neck, the fans never let up. 

In 2023, when Ionescu had her record-setting 37-point outburst, and still practiced for these sort of things, the 3-Point Contest was held Friday afternoon in Las Vegas. This time around, it was on primetime in front of a crowd that gave Fever guard Lexie Hull, filling in for Clark, a standing ovation before she even took her first shot. 

"Just happy, honored. I think it was exciting, I hope the crowd had fun," Ionescu said. "I think from Skills all the way through 3-Point it was just a great show. Last time I did the 3-point shootout in Vegas it didn't feel sold out. Now, to be able to see how much the W has evolved even from two years [ago], for fans to be a part of this weekend... it's a blessing to be here."