Fireworks, bragging rights and a Liberty sweep: Inside the WNBA Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest

Ionescu already knows what she’s going to do with her $62,575 prize money. Before she competed, she talked to Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron on the bench. The two players have mutual admiration for one another, and Ionescu told Citron that she’d give her half of the prize money if she won.

“Being the only rookie, she was nervous, and I was nervous for her,” Ionescu told reporters after the competition. “Obviously, have to hold up my end of the bargain. So half is going to go to her. I gotta text her and let her know that I’m going to give her half of it just for participating like that. Takes a lot of courage to be able to do that as a rookie … and I was really proud of her.

“And then the other half will go to my foundation to continue to be able to give back in communities that mean a lot to me.”

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As for how she’ll send Citron the money, Ionescu is still figuring that out. “I think I have a limit on Venmo,” she said with a laugh. “… I think I gotta go pick up the check here somewhere. Maybe cut it in half. I just gotta figure out how I want to do that, but someone will help me.”

Citron was the only rookie who participated in the 3-Point Contest, which also included Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum and Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull. (Hull was a late addition to replace injured teammate Caitlin Clark.) With every made three, all of the fans — many of whom rocked Fever and WNBA All-Star merchandise — inside a packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse went crazy, sending the arena into a frenzy of cheers and applause.

The energy was high from the very beginning of the evening, starting with the Skills Challenge. Gray, New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud, Seattle Storm guards Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler, and Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams competed in a course that required completing three bounce passes to a target, a chest pass, a 3-point shot, an elbow jumper, another 3-pointer, another chest pass and a final shot of their choice. Cloud and Wheeler advanced to the final round, and Cloud won the round with a time of 35.5 seconds, just 1.1 seconds faster than Wheeler.

“My biggest concern was the passing,” Cloud told reporters afterward. “I think you saw in the first round, if you mess up any of those passes, it takes so much time off. So those were my main targets, obviously, I want to make my shots, but if I only have three balls to shoot, the other two can just go real quick. So really focusing on making those passes [on] target … and then with the shots, if it didn’t feel right, I didn’t care. I was just going to the next shot.

“I thought I messed myself up, because I kind of went at that middy shot. It felt good coming off, but then I said, ‘Hold on.’ But towards the end, I was really just — I saw the clock, three, two, one, and I had to get that shot, that layup up. So at the end, I was just nervous not to smoke it.”

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Despite the fact that they’d just competed against each other, Wheeler ran to embrace Cloud underneath the basket after her win.

“Man, it’s all love,” Cloud said. “We were talking in the back of the locker room like, ‘Man, once we go out this door, it’s like, we know we’re competitors, so all that [friendliness], that’s out the way when we’re going to get this money.’ But at the end of the day, we really respect one another, everyone in that room. We know we’re going to be competitive tonight, and we just wanted to set a standard and an expectation for the fans here for this weekend.”

After Wheeler’s hug, an overjoyed Ionescu ran to Cloud and gave her a long hug in celebration of their “Liberty Biberty sweep.” The most excited Liberty teammate, though, was Cloud’s girlfriend, Isabelle Harrison, who wore a No. 9 jersey in her honor. After the win, Cloud picked up Harrison and gleefully carried her around the court. Then she told ESPN’s Holly Rowe that, like Gray — who said she invested her 3-Point Contest earnings last year — she plans on investing the $57,575 in prize money into a down payment on a home.

“[Harrison] over here told me I better win today for a down payment on a house, so baby, you’re going to get that house!” Cloud said.

Afterward, Cloud ran off the court; fist-bumped the Las Vegas Aces mascot, Buckets; and disappeared into the tunnel.

When she reemerged for her postgame interview with reporters, Cloud revealed that she and Ionescu had been scheming all along to sweep the competition.

“I’ve been talking about it since we both entered [the] Skills and 3-Point Challenge, been talking to Sab about sweeping the night,” Cloud said. “… It was really cool to be here [and] really cool to be a part of All-Star and to go against some of my favorite players and competitors in the league, but to come out on top … is just also refreshing.

“We had a hard, tough start to the season. This is the break and the reset for us, and to come out with some wins is good confidence going into the second part of the season here. But it’s a great night for the Liberty organization. Just really thankful to be here, but more thankful to represent them.”

It was a night of bragging rights for the Liberty. Cloud even said the trophy was “going to sleep in my bed with me tonight.”

“No it’s not,” Harrison chimed in.

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As for Ionescu, she called Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who defeated her in a one-on-one 3-point competition during the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis. “I … was showing the trophy off, because last time he beat me,” Ionescu said.

After watching many All-Stars compete on Friday night, fans got to celebrate the end of the first day of WNBA All-Star weekend by gathering outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse to watch fireworks go off above the arena. It was the perfect ending, capping the fireworks show the All-Stars had already put on inside.