By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark will hopefully be in a 3-point contest for the first time in her pro career as the Indiana Fever guard is set to compete Friday night in the WNBA All-Star competition.
Clark injured her right groin on Tuesday night in the last minute of the Fever’s game against Connecticut and it’s unknown if she’ll be able to participate this weekend in either the contest or the All-Star Game.
“No discussion yet about this weekend.” Indiana coach Stephanie White said before the Fever faced New York on Wednesday night. “There was imaging done, but there hasn’t been any discussion beyond tonight.”
If she can go, she’ll be joined by contest record holder Sabrina Ionescu, who last entered the contest in 2023 and hit 25 of her 27 shots in the final round, scoring 37 points. It was the most shots made in a 3-point contest in either the WNBA or NBA.
The Liberty’s star guard wanted to make sure she was completely healthy before officially entering the contest. She said she’ll be trying to break her own mark.
Clark’s management team said earlier this year when she turned down competing in some fashion at NBA All-Star weekend that the young star wanted her first 3-point contest to be in Indianapolis at the WNBA weekend.
“I’ve never participated in a 3-point competition before, never practiced before, so go out there and have fun,” Clark said before Tuesday night’s game. “The lineup of people competing is tremendous so more than anything its going to be really great for our league and women’s basketball as a whole. I’m just excited. The skills competition and that will be a really exciting time and will lead into Saturday and a really great game as well.”
Allisha Gray, who made her own history last season, winning the 3-point and skills challenge, will try to defend her title in both competitions. She beat Jonquel Jones 22-21 to win the 3-point shootout. Gray beat Sophie Cunningham by 2 seconds to win the skills competition.
The Atlanta Dream star received $110,000 from Aflac as part of a partnership with the WNBPA. The 3-point contest winner this year will get $60,000 from Aflac which is $5,000 more than the company gave last year.
Gray also got $2,575 from the league for each of her two victories.
Other participants in the 3-point contest are Washington rookie Sonia Citron and Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum.
The other players competing in the skills challenge will be New York’s Natasha Cloud, Seattle’s Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler, and Minnesota’s Courtney Williams.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball