Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu Decline WNBA 3-Point Contest

Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu, two of the WNBA’s best-known gamers, declined to take part in Friday’s 3-point contest in Phoenix.

Ionescu is making ready for the Paris Olympics—group play begins July 29 in opposition to Japan—and, in accordance with the Related Press, is specializing in the Olympic camp. Clark, who was left off Crew USA’s roster, is ending the primary few months of what’s been a record-setting first half of her rookie marketing campaign.

On Wednesday, WNBA gamers’ affiliation head Terri Carmichael Jackson objected to studies that the league would obtain almost $200 million yearly as a part of the NBA’s $75 billion, 11-year media rights take care of Disney, NBC and Amazon.

“We stay up for studying how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation—if preliminary studies are correct and even shut,” Carmichael Jackson mentioned in a press release. The quantity represents a six-fold enhance within the rights pay for the WNBA, which was occasion to the negotiations.

Clark, for her half, set the WNBA’s single-game help report with 19 later that night because the Indiana Fever closed the primary half of the season with a loss to the Dallas Wings. She and Chicago’s Angel Reese had been the one two rookies named as all-stars.

In accordance with the WNBA’s most up-to-date collective bargaining settlement, gamers earn $1,030 for collaborating within the 3-point contest, with the winner receiving $2,575.

After conversations concerning the bonus payout quantities circulated on social media, Nneka Ogwumike, president of the WNBPA and ahead for the Seattle Storm, posted on X that insurance coverage firm Aflac is “supplementing the league’s pay” and including $55,000 to the winners’ payouts for the talents problem and 3-point contest.

“This initiative is a testomony to our dedication to selling girls in sports activities and celebrating the dedication and expertise of those unbelievable gamers,” Garth Knutson, Aflac’s chief advertising officer, mentioned in a press release.

The WNBA didn’t instantly say whether or not this was allowed underneath the CBA.

The contributors on this yr’s 3-point contest embody Ionescu’s New York Liberty teammate Jonquel Jones, Stefanie Dolson (Washington Mystics), Allisha Grey (Atlanta Dream), Marina Mabrey (Connecticut Solar) and Kayla McBride (Minnesota Lynx).

Through the NBA’s All-Star weekend in February, Ionescu participated in a 3-point contest with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry that noticed Curry beat Ionescu by three factors. Ionescu was the W’s 3-point contest champion final yr after placing up a report 37 factors within the last spherical, hitting 25 of 27 pictures.

Each Clark and Ionescu will take part within the WNBA All-Star Recreation on Saturday evening.

(This story has been up to date with particulars of the NBA/WNBA media rights deal and rookie all-star picks, and with data on the Aflac bonus payouts.)