Isiah Thomas thinks the NBA forgot to include someone in the 3-point contest between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu on Saturday night during All-Star Weekend.
The former NBA point guard and Knicks executive said on NBA TV that he’d like to see Iowa star Caitlin Clark — who became the all-time leading scorer for women’s college basketball Thursday — compete against Curry and Ionescu because “she’s the real deal.”
“That’s who should be in this competition,” Thomas said.
Analyst Grant Hill, also on the NBA TV segment, picked Ionescu to win the competition, while Thomas — despite vouching for Clark — went with Curry for his prediction.
“I’m gonna go with Steph,” Thomas said, “but I’m gonna say this: Neither one of them are the greatest shooters, because right now, that Caitlin Clark, that’s who I want to see. I want to see her in this competition. … Bring Caitlin in, and let her shoot against both of them.”
Clark has made 38.3 percent of her 1,271 3-pointers while at Iowa, and this season, she has connected at a 39.9 percent clip to help Iowa sit at No. 4 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll.
When she broke the scoring record, passing Kelsey Plum’s 3,527 points and moving closer to Pete Maravich (3,667 points) for the all-time record for college basketball, Clark attempted — and made — a 3-pointer from the logo, and she joked with reporters postgame that, “Y’all knew I was gonna shoot a logo 3 for the record, come on now.”
But for Saturday night, it’ll just be Curry and Ionescu — who have shot 42.7 and 37.7 percent on 3-pointers, respectively, throughout their professional careers — competing in the special 3-point competition.
Ionescu shattered the 3-point contest record for both the NBA and WNBA with 37 points in July, and Curry challenged Ionescu to a competition after initially reacting with a “RIDICULOUS” post on X.
“He wants to beat me,” Ionescu told reporters Saturday, according to the NBA, “so I could tell you that. He’s not taking it easy. He was out there booing me as I was practicing yesterday and trying to get in my head.”
That’s what’ll unfold Saturday at 8 p.m., but if Thomas’ vision for the competition materializes, perhaps they’ll have Clark join next year, too.