The biggest NBA 3-point contest at this year’s All-Star Week will not involve the league’s best shooters.
Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry and New York Liberty’s guard Sabrina Ionescu will face off in a NBA vs. WNBA 3-point challenge on Saturday in the first matchup of its kind.
Plans for this matchup started in late January, when Curry wanted to challenge the WNBA’s best shooter to see who was better from beyond the arc. The pair of elite guards see this as an opportunity to grow the WNBA, and to “change the narrative” of how men and women are viewed in competition.
"We're having this moment and reshaping how people think about just competition in general," Curry said. "You've got kids that are in gyms, boys and girls playing. Whatever else comes out of it, we're going to continue to tap in and invest in moments like these that can move the needle."
"There's going to be a young kid who hasn't maybe watched many WNBA games but is going to watch this, and they're going to have that dream of one day maybe shooting against their idol," Ionescu said. "We're a small piece of changing the narrative.”
Ionescu has a legitimate chance at beating Curry. In 2023, she set the record for the highest score in a 3-point contest in either professional league.
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It sounds like these two want to provide evidence that men’s and women’s sports are more equal than people think.
But I have a hard time believing that this contest will alter the perspective on women’s sports.
While an Ionescu victory would certainly be impressive, it wouldn’t prove men and women belong in the same level of competition. This contest rewards a player who performs the best with a certain skill with no direct interference from their competitor.
If this turned into a one-on-one, full court matchup between Curry and Ionescu, Curry would win hands down. Why? Because his biological makeup would give him a distinct advantage over his female counterpart. It would not “change the narrative” that men are physically more gifted than women.
If you really wanted to change the narrative, you should put a men’s team versus a women’s team and see who wins. In fact, OutKick’s Clay Travis suggested this idea in October, and said he’d bet $1 million that a high-level boys high school basketball team could beat the best WNBA team.
But no one took him up on it, in part because they know the truth. The men’s team, despite being high schoolers, would have a legitimate chance of winning.
In all seriousness, I do wish Curry and Ionescu the best. But they shouldn’t be surprised if the competition doesn’t yield the far-reaching effect they’re hoping for.
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