Point/Counterpoint: Who would win a 3-point contest: Sabrina Ionescu or Stephen Curry? 

There is under a month until the NBA All-Star Weekend, where the best players will take the court in Indianapolis and put on a show. For the highly coveted All-Star Saturday Night, the best 3-point shooters in the world will face off against each other in hopes of being crowned the strongest in the world from downtown. New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu put the basketball world on notice when she finished with 37 points in the WNBA 3-Point Shooting Contest, a record for both the WNBA and the NBA. On the flip side, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is widely regarded as the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history, holding the record for the most 3-pointers made all-time. 

In this edition of Point/Counterpoint, campus correspondent Julliana Bravo and staff writer Sam Calhoun debate who would win the 3-point contest that is set to occur in mid-February. 

Julliana: To really prove why Sabrina Ionescu is going to win the 3-point contest, here are some statistics. At the 2023 All-Star Weekend, Ionescu scored a historic 37 points in the 3-point contest, setting a new WNBA and NBA record. She missed just two shots, one bucket from the corner and another down the middle. Her other shots went in easily because once she’s in the zone, she is all net. 

But her 3-point ability isn’t limited to the All-Star Weekend. Ionescu led the 2023 WNBA season shooting 44.8% in 3-pointers with a total of 128. In games where she is up against a tough defense, she’s able to make threes look easy. In the 2023 season, Ionescu made six 3-pointers against the Las Vegas Aces in just one game. She also made six in another game and five later in the season in a rematch against Las Vegas. This was when the Aces were ranked second in defense, just behind the Liberty. On the court, she wastes no time with her offense. Ionescu knows exactly what to do when she’s passed the ball, and for her, those are threes. 

Sam: I am not doubting Sabrina Ionescu’s ability to shoot from long range. However, against Stephen Curry, the greatest 3-point shooter of all time, I don’t think she will hold a candle against the future Hall-of-Famer. Curry is a two-time NBA 3-Point Contest champion, with wins in 2015 and 2021. The best performance the four-time NBA champion posted in those contests was in the first round of his most recent win, putting up 31 points. 

Not only has Curry passed Ray Allen for the most 3-pointers made in NBA history, but he has a lead of 604 3-pointers over the former UConn Husky. The only current player even remotely close to Curry is James Harden, who has hit 2,860 3-pointers over the course of his legendary career. During his 2015-2016 MVP season, Curry made 402 3-pointers in 79 games, which is the most in a season ever. He made roughly 45.4% of his shots from behind the arc that season and made roughly five each game on average. The nine-time All-Star has led the NBA in 3-pointers made seven times since the 2012-2013 season. 

Julliana: Yes, Curry is known for his 3-point shot. He arguably changed the NBA offense and currently leads the league in the most 3-pointers ever. However, when looking at Curry’s recent stats, it doesn’t match up to Ionescu. Curry currently makes 40.3% of his 3-pointers for the 2023-2024 season. This is almost 5% less than what Ionescu made. Last season, he hit 42.7% of his threes and was inactive for a good portion of the season due to rehabilitation, but he’s still down by 2.1% compared to Ionescu’s 2023 season.  

In Curry’s 3-point contest win at the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend, he made just 77% of his shots. While that’s impressive, Ionescu made a record-breaking 92% of her shots at the WNBA 3-Point Contest. 

Curry’s 14-year-long career is undoubtedly going to consist of more threes than Ionescu’s 4-year-long career. However, if we look at Ionescu’s college career, we can see that she didn’t just start making threes out of nowhere. At Oregon, she made 42.2% of her 3-pointers in her four-year college career. She also made the top 10 in average 3-pointers made in a game in the Pac-12 conference each year of her college career.  

Sam: I understand that Ionescu’s career is a lot shorter than Curry’s. However, Curry’s shooting ability can be dated back to his days at Davidson. In his three years as a Wildcat, he put up a career average of 41% from downtown. During the 2007-2008 season, he made 162 shots from long-range, averaging 4.5 per game. The latter number broke the single-season NCAA record for sophomore 3-pointers made per game. 

The NBA 3-point line, along with the ball, is a lot bigger than the regulation size in the WNBA. Curry’s shots are at least two feet farther than Ionescu’s shots due to the difference in the 3-point line. With that being said, I’m excited to watch the competition between these two sharpshooters during All-Star Weekend.