NEW YORK (AFP) — Golden State sharpshooter Stephen Curry, the National Basketball Association’s all-time three-point leader, and Women’s NBA one-season three-point record holder Sabrina Ionescu will meet in a showdown on NBA All-Star Weekend at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The league announced on Tuesday that Curry, a four-time NBA champion and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, would face Ionescu, a New York Liberty guard known for her deadly accuracy from beyond the arc.
The three-point challenge will be contested on 17 February during the annual skills competitions held on the eve of the NBA All-Star Game at Indianapolis.
Curry will shoot from the NBA three-point line with NBA basketballs while Ionescu, who set a one-season record of 128 three-points last season, will shoot from the WNBA three-point line with WNBA basketballs.
Ionescu challenged Curry to a three-point shootout after getting 37 of a possible 40 points in the final round of the WNBA three-Point Contest at last year’s WNBA All-Star Game.
In a social media post, Ionescu said she is ready to shoot from the NBA three-point line.
“I’ll shoot from the NBA line. Let’s get it!” she said.
Curry also raised the challenge issue last Thursday and Ionescu accepted in a social media post.
“The stage is set! Let’s get it,” Curry said.
A two-time NBA Three-Point Contest winner, Curry has made an NBA-record 3,577 three-pointers in regular-season games while Ionescu averaged 17 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and made 44.8 percent of her three-pointers to reach the WNBA Finals.
She also hit 128 three-pointers to set a WNBA record.
Meanwhile, top NBA Draft pick Victor Wembanyama and 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero are among the players named to compete in next month’s NBA Rising Stars tournament.
The event, featuring four seven-player teams, will be staged on 16 February, two days before the NBA All-Star Game.
French 7-foot-4 center Wembanyama, averaging 20.6 points and 10.1 rebounds a game this season for the San Antonio Spurs, is among 11 rookies who were selected by NBA assistant coaches.
They will join 10 second-year NBA players, Orlando star Banchero among them, in a talent pool from which three teams will be picked in a draft next Tuesday.
Those lineups and a seven-player squad from the developmental G-League picked by NBA officials will compete in a four-team event
Honorary head coaches for the Rising Stars NBA squads will include former NBA players Pau Gasol, the Spaniard whose team who last year, and former Indiana Pacers standout Jalen Rose plus Women’s NBA Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings.
