Clark, Ionescu to headline WNBA 3-point contest

Indiana Fever defender and All-Star squad skipper Caitlin Clark volition enactment successful her archetypal 3-point contention arsenic a pro connected Friday arsenic portion of WNBA All-Star weekend, the league announced Tuesday.

She volition beryllium joined by the New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu, the Washington Mystics' Sonia Citron, the Los Angeles Sparks' Kelsey Plum and the Atlanta Dream's Allisha Gray, the defending champion of the event.

Participants besides were announced Tuesday for the Skills Challenge; some events volition beryllium held astatine Gainbridge Fieldhouse successful Indianapolis with the broadcast opening astatine 8 p.m. ET Friday connected ESPN. The All-Star Game is Saturday astatine 8:30 p.m. ET connected ABC betwixt teams picked by captains Clark and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx.

Last season, Gray won some the 3-point and Skills titles; she is an All-Star starter this play and volition effort to repetition that feat. Gray headlines the Skills Challenge again and is joined by New York's Natasha Cloud, the Seattle Storm's Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler, and the Minnesota Lynx' Courtney Williams.

Ionescu won the 3-point contention successful 2023 with a grounds people of 37 successful the last round. Clark was an All-Star arsenic a rookie past play but didn't instrumentality portion successful the 3-point contention then.

Clark's absorption squad said earlier this twelvemonth erstwhile she turned down competing successful immoderate manner astatine NBA All-Star play that the young prima wanted her archetypal 3-point contention to beryllium successful Indianapolis astatine the WNBA weekend.

Clark is known for her logo 3-pointers, but she has struggled this play from down the arc, particularly aft quad and groin injuries forced her to beryllium retired 9 games. She is shooting conscionable 28.9% (28 of 97) from down the arc.

However, Clark's 3-point prowess is prodigious: on with being the all-time Division I scoring person successful assemblage hoops (3,951 points), Clark besides acceptable the D-I people for vocation 3-pointers (548) portion shooting 37.7% astatine Iowa from 2020-2024. And she led the WNBA past play with 122 treys portion shooting 34.4%.

Atlanta's Rhyne Howard presently leads the WNBA with 56 3-pointers and was picked arsenic an All-Star reserve. But she is retired the remainder of July with a genu wounded and won't enactment successful the All-Star Game. She was replaced by Minnesota's Kayla McBride, who is tied with Plum for 2nd successful 3-pointers (50). Gray is 4th with 49 and Ionescu tied for 5th with 47. Citron, a rookie All-Star reserve, has 33 3-pointers this season.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.