Friday night from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum headline an impressive field in the WNBA 3-point contest.
Also competing are Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream and Sonia Citron of the Washington Mystics.
Any league thrives in fan interest when it has marquee stars and dynamic matchups. Bird versus Magic. Barry Bonds versus Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Frazier versus Ali. The surest way to fight for a surge of popularity is to have big names in classic confrontations.
It's Clark's first time competing in the 3-point contest. The Fever guard will be the crowd favorite in Indiana. Though she's well-known for her dazzling range, she's hitting just 28.9 percent from three so far this season while struggling with injuries.
Caitlin Clark is set to participate in her FIRST EVER WNBA 3-Point Contest 🎯🔥
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 15, 2025
Will she win it all? 🏆👀 pic.twitter.com/CQ7aYiuoHd
Liberty star and two-time John Wooden Award winner at Oregon Ionescu is 1-16 from three-point range in her last two games, 30.9 percent on the year.
Plum, the star guard for the 7-14 Los Angeles Sparks, is doing a little better from distance-- she's hit 52 3-pointers this season, second most in the league, connecting on 35 percent. In 2018 with Las Vegas she made 43.9 percent.
Former Duck Te-Hina Paopao hits 46.5 percent of her threes, but she wasn't invited.
The dismal numbers point to a problem the WNBA has. It has a split personality about marketing and promotion. On one hand it wants to promote stars and basketball excellence, but the product isn't very consistent. Sunday afternoon in the Barclay's Center the Liberty shot 38.5 percent as a team in a 79-72 win over Atlanta, who shot 37.5 percent.
The officiating is woefully uneven and it makes games hard to watch. It seems every night there's some kind of viral cat fight or shoving match, a few of which that have gotten ugly. Angel Reese gets cast as a WWE-style heavy and some of the confrontations are a bad look for the league.
Angel Reese Ready to fight Caitlin Clark lol pic.twitter.com/yXaT8szJAb
— Dj Meechymeech (@DjMeechymeech) May 21, 2025
Ionescu, Clark and Paige Bueckers are three young stars that can bring a higher level of basketball skill to the game, but the quality of play has to improve.
It's a mistake to keep leaning into the sensationalism, shoving and name-calling. Make baskets and play fundamental basketball. Artificially hyping up individual rivalries isn't getting it done.