It was hard to imagine that Sabrina Ionescu would not be on the list of contestants for this year’s WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest. Which is exactly why so many quickly concluded she must have declined the invitation when her name was absent from the announcement.
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Ionescu herself, however, has since come out to directly challenge that assumption, stating that she cannot decline an offer she never officially received in the first place. But a WNBA spokesman has clarified the league’s process in such matters via ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
“Sabrina Ionescu said yesterday re: her involvement in the 3-point contest, ‘I can’t decline an offer I never officially got invited to,'” Philippou posted on her X account on Thursday. “From a WNBA spokesperson: ‘Our general process is to reach out to agents to determine a player’s interest, and some accept and some decline.'”
Philippou further added:
“Seems notable that Sabrina said she never got ‘officially invited‘ while the league said it generally reaches out ‘to determine a player’s interest.’ Have to imagine there was a dialogue of some sorts between the camps.”
Philippou’s post suggests that both Sabrina Ionescu‘s and the spokesman’s statements could simultaneously be accurate. As Ionescu said, she never received a formal invitation directly. And based on the spokesman’s explanation, it appears the WNBA never issued any official invite to begin with. Instead, they likely informally contacted her agent to gauge her interest before they formally initiated any process.
To a large extent, Lynx guard Kayla McBride’s own account seems to further authenticate the spokesman’s process description. McBride, who also does not feature among the contestants, revealed she too only received what amounted to a half-hearted invitation, communicated informally through a text from her agent rather than any kind of formal outreach.
Both McBride and Ionescu have history with the three-point contest. McBride’s most notable run came during the 2019 competition, where she finished as the runner-up behind Shekinna Stricklen of the Connecticut Sun.
Ionescu’s résumé in the competition, however, is in an entirely different category. She is a two-time WNBA 3-Point Contest champion, winning both times she has participated. She also holds the all-time basketball record for the most points scored in a single round across both the WNBA and NBA competitions combined. And she famously took on Stephen Curry in the NBA’s version of the contest, losing only narrowly in one of the most memorable moments the event has ever produced.
Given all of that, it is no surprise that fans were eager to see her back in this year’s competition. And why many appear visibly disappointed when she was not included. But regardless of how or whether she was invited, Ionescu has made clear that she is genuinely excited for the contest. She, in fact, looks forward to seeing who comes out on top.