NBA All-Star Weekend shooting contests won’t include the star power of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark this February, after the WNBA phenom had reportedly been invited to compete in a special 3-point challenge against the likes of Steph Curry in San Francisco.
“She wants her first 3-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer,” Clark’s representatives at Excel Sports said in a statement Wednesday.
Anticipation for an NBA/WNBA crossover event during festivities hosted by Golden State Feb. 14-16 had been building since the fall, when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that conversations were underway about the possibility of Curry, Clark, New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu and Dallas Mavericks wing Klay Thompson facing off.
During the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, Curry and Ionescu competed in a primetime contest while earning money for their respective charities. Curry won, 29-26.
“Steph won for a reason, and I’m going to have to try to beat him next time,” Ionescu said afterwards.
Basketball’s top shooters, male or female, could still convene later this year, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during the WNBA All-Star affair July 18-19. The league awarded Indy the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game last summer, in part because of the Fever’s recent business success, a Pacers Sports & Entertainment executive said at the time. Indiana led the league in attendance while setting numerous records off the court in 2024.
Clark, who is known for her penchant to attempt—and make—threes off the dribble and from long distances—also opted to sit out of last year’s WNBA All-Star 3-point contest in Phoenix. “It’s not an easy thing to just show up to and shoot off of a rack,” she said at the time, before adding, “There’s going to be plenty of opportunities for me to do that at some point.”
With Clark and Ionescu not competing, Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray became the first player in WNBA history to win both the skills challenge and 3-point shootout. Gray earned $115,150 for her performance, supplementing her $185,000 salary for the year.
Clark has maintained a relatively low profile this offseason after a whirlwind 12 months of basketball across her final college season and her first pro campaign. On Sunday, she will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time since leaving for the WNBA, as Iowa retires her No. 22 jersey.
Clark chose not to compete in the debut season of 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, though Fever teammate Lexie Hull recently said Clark has been watching.
“I think she’s enjoying her time just training and getting a chance to take a breather,” Hull told Sports Illustrated.
Notably, that league pauses its regular season from Feb. 8 until Feb. 18 for a 1-on-1 tournament. Five current Unrivaled players are not slated to take part in the 30-player contest: Ionescu, Brittney Griner, Angel Reese, Stefanie Dolson, and Courtney Vandersloot. They could be available for NBA All-Star Weekend cameos; two other WNBA stars who aren’t participating in Unrivaled this year, Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson, showed up in Indy last winter while another pair participated in the NBA All-Star Celebrity game.
At this point, it’s unclear if or how W players will be included in the 2025 festivities, or if Curry and his onetime Splash Brother, Thompson, could headline their own showdown. In the meantime, the title of world’s best shooter remains up for debate.
