Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Allisha Gray headline WNBA All-Star 3-point contest

NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark will be in a 3-point contest for the first time in her pro career as the Indiana Fever guard will compete Friday night in the WNBA All-Star competition. 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 her team faced Connecticut in Boston on Tuesday night. "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 an extra $5,000 from Aflac. 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.