Last year’s NBA All-Star Weekend had a huge hit with Steph Curry participating in a “man vs woman” three-point shooting contest. The NBA wants Caitlin Clark in a similar competition this year in SF, but Clark’s not feeling it.
NBA fans will recall that last year’s All-Star Game Weekend proceedings in Indianapolis featured a Steph Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu three-point shooting contest, which was riveting television, as the WNBA star (and Walnut Creek native!) Ionescu came within a hair of actually beating Steph. So with this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco, the NBA would like to trot out another similar “man vs. woman” contest, or rather, a “men vs women” contest.
And the NBA would of course love to include the WNBA’s runaway blockbuster superstar Caitlin Clark. The idea would reportedly be another three-point shooting contest, but in pairs; Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu on the women’s side, and Curry plus our dearly departed friend Klay Thompson on the other. The contest is so exciting to league officials that they apparently planned to make it part of Sunday’s marquee All-Star Game, instead of being part of the normal Saturday night Three-Point Shooting Contest and Slam Dunk Contest.
But Sports Business Journal reports that Clark has declined to participate. And it’s not because she’s afraid to face the Splash Brothers, but rather, she doesn’t like the format, where the competitors grab basketballs off a rack.
Per Sports Business Journal, “Sources said Clark is not interested in shooting 3-pointers off of a ball rack — considering her practice regimen consists only of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers or shots off the dribble.”
Fair enough, though that seems fixable. Maybe they could just have a ballboy or ballgirl throw her passes. And tellingly, sources in Clark’s camp say she might reconsider.
“I wouldn’t say it’s over until the thing happens,’’ that source told Sports Business Journal. “A lot of this stuff comes together very, very late.’’
So maybe Caitlin Clark is pulling sort of a Charles Barkley move, by claiming to not want to go to San Francisco for the All-Star Game, but inevitably showing up anyway.
Image: UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT - SEPTEMBER 25: Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever looks on during a press conference after losing 81-87 to the Connecticut Sun in Game Two of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs first round at Mohegan Sun Arena on September 25, 2024 in Uncasville, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
