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SAN FRANCISCO — There will be no Stephen Curry-Sabrina Ionescu rematch after all.
Curry and Ionescu starred on All-Star Saturday night in Indianapolis last year with a first-of-its-kind, 3-point shootout between them, narrowly won by Curry. But the two will not run it back during this weekend’s festivities in San Francisco, league sources told The Athletic.
In a statement, NBA spokesman Mike Bass said, “We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment. We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.”
League sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said Curry and Ionescu were not interested in a rematch. They wanted to expand the competition to include WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, and potentially Curry’s former teammate Klay Thompson. But when Clark, through a statement issued by her sports agency in January, declined to participate, saying she “wants her first 3-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer,” it all but doomed the men-against-women shooting contest.
NBA officials attempted to resurrect the Curry-Ionescu competition in some form as late as Wednesday, multiple league sources said, but couldn’t convince both parties to sign on for a rematch. There was even talk of pushing the competition to Sunday during a break in the reformatted All-Star Game, but that didn’t pick up steam.
The development is a bit of a stunner, given past statements made by the two stars and by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and the ties both Curry and Ionescu have to San Francisco. Curry, the greatest shooter in league history and all-time 3-point king, is the de facto host for All-Star Weekend as the face of the Golden State Warriors. Ionescu, a star in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, grew up in Walnut Creek, Calif., in the Bay Area. They both hinted at a rematch after Curry narrowly defeated her last year in Indianapolis, and Silver said the two would compete again this year.
Curry had a score of 29 to Ionescu’s 26 in the single-round shooting contest that easily upstaged the league’s regular 3-point contest during All-Star Saturday last year. Speaking to the media in Mexico City in November, Silver could barely hide his excitement over the buzz Curry and Ioenscu generated.
“They know they’re going to be doing this again,” Silver said. “They’re looking forward to it. I think as soon as they walked off the court after the competition last year, they said, in fact, they said we need more than one round. So we’re going to be doing more.”
Earlier this month, Ionescu told USA Today she would attend All-Star Weekend but was unsure if she would be on the court against Curry.
“Whether it happens this year or in the future, we both have a lot of basketball left, so we’ll definitely get to it at some point,” Ionescu said in the story. “It’s kind of TBD on that. But I am excited to get to the Bay. Obviously, I am from the Bay, so my whole family is very excited to be able to see me and welcome me home.”
Curry has twice won the NBA’s regular 3-point contest but will not participate Saturday. He is an All-Star for the 11th time and will play in the new All-Star tournament for Shaquille O’Neal’s team alongside LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
The league will hold its skills challenge, traditional 3-point shootout and dunk contest on Saturday night.
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(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
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