Clark, Ionescu to headline WNBA 3-point contest

Indiana Fever guard and All-Star team captain Caitlin Clark will participate in her first 3-point contest as a pro on Friday as part of WNBA All-Star weekend, the league announced Tuesday.

She will be joined by the New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu, the Washington Mystics' Sonia Citron, the Los Angeles Sparks' Kelsey Plum and the Atlanta Dream's Allisha Gray, the defending champion of the event.

Participants also were announced Tuesday for the Skills Challenge; both events will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN. The All-Star Game is Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC between teams picked by captains Clark and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx.

Last season, Gray won both the 3-point and Skills titles; she is an All-Star starter this season and will try to repeat that feat. Gray headlines the Skills Challenge again and is joined by New York's Natasha Cloud, the Seattle Storm's Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler, and the Minnesota Lynx' Courtney Williams.

Ionescu won the 3-point contest in 2023 with a record score of 37 in the final round. Clark was an All-Star as a rookie last season but didn't take part in the 3-point contest then.

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.

Clark is known for her logo 3-pointers, but she has struggled this season from behind the arc, especially after quad and groin injuries forced her to sit out nine games. She is shooting just 28.9% (28 of 97) from behind the arc.

However, Clark's 3-point prowess is prodigious: along with being the all-time Division I scoring leader in college basketball (3,951 points), Clark also set the D-I mark for career 3-pointers (548) while shooting 37.7% at Iowa from 2020-2024. And she led the WNBA last season with 122 treys while shooting 34.4%.

Atlanta's Rhyne Howard currently leads the WNBA with 56 3-pointers and was picked as an All-Star reserve. But she is out the rest of July with a knee injury and won't participate in the All-Star Game. She was replaced by Minnesota's Kayla McBride, who is tied with Plum for second in 3-pointers (50). Gray is fourth with 49 and Ionescu tied for fifth with 47. Citron, a rookie All-Star reserve, has 33 3-pointers this season.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.