The highlight of 2024’s NBA All-Star Saturday was the thrilling NBA-WNBA Shootout featuring Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty. Curry triumphed over Ionescu in a contest that not only entertained but also proved beneficial for both the men’s and women’s games, providing excellent exposure for the WNBA, especially with Caitlin Clark and a historic rookie class poised to enter the league. This unique event brought fresh excitement to an NBA All-Star Game weekend that has been perceived as increasingly stale.
However, despite last year’s success, the event will not return in 2025. In an unfortunate decision, the NBA announced on Thursday that the shootout has been canceled. Describing this as an own goal—similar to Ricky Davis attempting to shoot at his own basket for a triple-double—NBA spokesperson Mike Bass mentioned, “We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment. We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.”
NBA-WNBA shootout with Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu is off. NBA’s Mike Bass: “We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment. We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.”
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 13, 2025
The anticipation was high for this year’s event, with hopes it could expand to include talents like Caitlin Clark alongside other NBA stars. The NBA’s failure to build on the excitement from 2024’s shootout is a significant missed opportunity. While Clark’s unavailability due to her extended break is understandable, even a rematch between Sabrina and Steph would have sufficed. Unfortunately, as noted by The Athletic, neither party expressed interest in revisiting the matchup.
This is a letdown for basketball fans as last year’s shootout was truly memorable. Now, we are left with only a convoluted and contrived NBA All-Star Game tournament format to look forward to.
