Lisa Bluder weighs in on Caitlin Clark’s WNBA success and current women’s NCAA season
Former Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder stops by to discuss life after basketball and her new partnership with Gamechanger.
The 3-point contest is a huge part of any NBA All-Star Weekend, and one of the most frequent questions building up to the 2025 edition is simple: Will Caitlin Clark participate?
The WNBA Rookie of the Year has made audacious, long-range shooting a calling card, and Clark has undeniably drawn plenty of new viewers to the Indiana Fever (and before that, the Iowa Hawkeyes). With women’s basketball’s popularity soaring and connections between the NBA and WNBA more and more common, it’s not crazy to imagine Clark on the court during All-Star Weekend.
There’s precedent, too: Sabrina Ionescu and Stephen Curry turned a joking exchange on social media into a first-of-its-kind NBA vs. WNBA 3-point Challenge at last year’s All-Star Game. Clark opted for rest during the debut season of Unrivaled, the three-on-three league whose debut season is taking place right now, removing one potential scheduling conflict.
Here’s what to know about whether Caitlin Clark will be participating in this year’s NBA 3-point contest:
Caitlin Clark is one of the biggest names in all of basketball, but don’t expect to see her on the court during the 3-point contest.
In January, the Indiana Fever star’s representatives told ESPN that she would not be participating in the All-Star Weekend event and would instead prefer for her first professional 3-point contest to come at the WNBA All-Star Game this summer.
There had been some speculation that Clark might participate in the contest or something along the lines of the NBA vs. WNBA 3-point Challenge from 2024. Last year’s event, which saw New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu take on Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, was not part of the NBA 3-point contest but did take place as part of All-Star Weekend.
In her first WNBA season, Clark took more threes (355) than any other player, but her .344 shooting percentage ranked 21st among all players to attempt more than 100 three-pointers. That said, the Iowa native has become famous for hitting shots from well beyond the arc, and her success rate as a rookie may have been impacted by Indiana’s early-season struggles on offense.
While Caitlin Clark won’t be participating in this year’s 3-point contest, there are plenty of NBA stars who will. This year’s tournament will feature eight of the best sharpshooters from around the league:
The NBA 3-point contest is just one part of a three-event Saturday night, the prelude to the actual All-Star Game on Sunday. Saturday’s events include the Skills Challenge first, followed by the 3-point contest and then the slam dunk contest.
Watch NBA 3-point contest on Fubo
The NBA All-Star Game will involve three games, with Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker, and Kenny Smith each drafting teams. The format involves semifinal games first, with the winners capping off All-Star Weekend in the final.
Watch the 2025 NBA All-Star Game on Fubo
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