As NBA All-Star Weekend nears, all eyes are on which players will participate in the annual festivities.
In 2024, one of the biggest highlights of All-Star Weekend was the first-of-its-kind head-to-head 3-Point Contest held between Warriors superstar Stephen Curry and Liberty superstar Sabrina Ionescu. With this year’s All-Star events taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area, the two could elect to run it back. This time, many believe Fever star Caitlin Clark and Mavericks sharpshooter Klay Thompson will join them.
While there has been speculation of Clark’s participation, there has been no confirmation that she will participate. Recent reporting suggests that the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year may opt to pass on the competition.
Here’s why Clark joining the NBA-WNBA crossover 3-point competition is no sure shot.
SN’s NBA HQ: Live NBA scores | Updated NBA standings | Full NBA schedule
Will Caitlin Clark be in NBA 3-Point Contest?
Clark will not participate in the NBA All-Star 3-point shootout, her representation shared through ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will not participate in NBA All-Star special 3-point shootout in San Francisco and “wants her first three-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer,” her representatives at Excel Sports said today.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 29, 2025
While she will not participate at NBA All-Star Weekend, Clark’s representatives added that the star guard plans to be a headliner at the WNBA 3-point contest in 2025. The festivities will take place on her team’s home floor in Indianapolis.
Prior to Charania’s report, Clark had reportedly informed the NBA she was “disinclined” to join the 3-Point Contest, according to a report from Sports Business Journal.
The disinclination reportedly stemmed from Clark not wanting to shoot 3-pointers off of a ball rack, which is how most all 3-point contests are handled. There is little to no known history of Clark participating in 3-point contests. She passed on the WNBA’s 3-Point Contest during the league’s All-Star festivities in 2024.
As a rookie, Clark led the WNBA with 122 made 3s, doing so at a 34.4 percent clip. Clark’s mark is the second-highest single-season total in league history behind only Ionescu’s 128 3s in 2023.
Speculation that Clark would participate first stemmed from a November report from ESPN’s Shams Charania, who said, “Sources tell me that Curry and Ionescu are continuing discussions on bringing back that shootout, adding that, “There is plans for that. But also potentially including Klay Thompson and Caitlin Clark in that competition this year.”
During the Celtics-Warriors game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, TNT analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller appeared to leak that Clark and Thompson would join the showdown at All-Star Weekend.
The latest developments show Miler might have been presumptive in his statement. After shooting at the WNBA’s 3-point contest, perhaps Clark will take the NBA All-Star Weekend stage in 2026.
MORE: Predicting who will win the All-Star Weekend's Dunk Contest
2025 NBA All-Star schedule
Friday, Feb. 14
- NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, 7 p.m. ET
- NBA Rising Stars Game, 9 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 15
- NBA HBCU Classic (Morehouse College vs. Tuskegee University), 5 p.m. ET
- NBA All-Star Saturday Night, 8 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 16
- NBA All-Star Game, 8 p.m. ET
MORE NBA NEWS:
- Full list of starters and voting results for 2025 NBA All-Star Game
- Who is participating in this year's NBA Dunk Contest?
- Why Victor Wembanyama is the biggest NBA All-Star starter snub
- Breaking down the best potential landing spots for De'Aaron Fox