New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu makes an impact on the court, yes. But it’s the impact she’s made on the culture of basketball that has her becoming a household name in the sports world.
Well, that — and having one of the best shooters in the history of the game challenging you to a three-point contest. Those things add up to the resume of greatness.
She’s also getting some respect from some of the biggest names to ever play the sport.
On a recent episode of 7 PM in Brooklyn, a Wave Sports + Entertainment Original, Carmelo Anthony and Mikal Bridges talked about Ionescu breaking barriers and the impact of the WNBA as a whole.
“So you look at somebody like Sabrina, she’s stepping it out, she’s close to half court,” Anthony said. “How do you defend that? As a defender, how you defend that? And I’m talking about as a man too, I mean you [are] gonna be physical. If you can just imagine as a defender like damn – even if she wasn’t a woman – if someone was doing that, how do you guard that?”
“You gotta guard them all the way out there,” Bridges said. “And now they have all this room to go right past you.”
The impact she’s making didn’t escape NBA legend Melo.
“You see what I’m saying? She’s groundbreaking,” he said. “She’s breaking barriers, man. Because we ain’t seen nothing like Sabrina.”
She’s going up against Steph Curry in a head-to-head three-point contest that was announced on Tuesday during All-Star Saturday Night on Feb. 17 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It’ll be the first-ever NBA vs. WNBA 3-Point Challenge. They’ll both be playing for charity.
The guys talked about the contest and think it’s a great idea — and it goes beyond just the WNBA.
“I love this concept for the business of basketball and women’s sports,” Melo said. “Because for the longest, women athletes complaint is why don’t we get paid the way that [men do]. So now you get a chance to put somebody on that stage who can actually sell. Put bodies in the seats along with Steph [Curry]. And this is a moment. This is a moment that I think is going to spark some shit in sports. For them to do that All-Star weekend where women in sports is going in the next 7-10 years … I think women’s sports is outta here in the next 10 years. All women’s sports … it might be bigger than some other sports that’s out there. When you start going at numbers and trajectory and scale and like all of that, when you start looking at s— …
“… So because of that…I think most sports will be lucrative…for them [women’s basketball] to face men’s sports…face to face and it’s friendly…that’s y’all best at any level. Like she [Sabrina Ionescu is] representing all women’s sports because that’s your best shooter at any level in the game. And we got our greatest shooter ever [Steph Curry]. So f— who wins or loses it’s more of ah-ha this moment is a special moment … it’s a special moment. She f— around and win!”
