Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride were invited to participate in the WNBA’s 3-Point Contest but declined the opportunities, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
Sabrina Ionescu also reportedly declined, per Philippou, but the New York Liberty guard later told reporters she was never invited.
“Whether it’s against Steph Curry or in the W, I always go out and try and beat my record every single time I’ve gone out,” Ionescu said. “So yeah, I mean I just kind of wanted to set the record straight. Like that was that was just false.”
The following six players will participate in the event.
Clark has been invited to the 3-Point Contest in all three of her WNBA seasons. In 2024, she declined due to rest.
In 2025, Clark was set to participate but unfortunately had to bow out due to a groin injury. No official reason has been given for Clark’s absence this year, but she has dealt with a back injury that’s caused her to miss a few games and currently has led to a minutes restriction.
Likewise, Ionescu has unfortunately dealt with injuries this year, sitting 12 of her team’s 26 games (ankle, back ailments). She played just one game before June 14. Ionescu did not make the All-Star Game this year in light of those absences. This year marks the first time she has not made the All-Star Game since 2021. However, she has started rounding into form of late, averaging 20.4 points and 5.0 assists per game in her last seven contests.
Ionescu won the 3-Point Contest in 2023 and 2025 (she skipped the contest in 2024).
McBride was arguably the biggest snub in this year’s All-Star Game. She has been on fire of late for the first-place Lynx amid an amazing season (18.1 PPG on 45.9 percent shooting and 39.4 percent from three).
The five-time WNBA All-Star has participated in the 3-Point Contest before, finishing runner-up in 2019 to Shekinna Stricklen of the Connecticut Sun.
This year’s All-Star Weekend will take place in Chicago. The Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest will go down at Wintrust Arena on Friday, while the All-Star Game will take place on Saturday at the United Center.
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