The NBA All-Star Game was recently played, and Coco Gauff chimed in by praising the new showdown between an NBA and WNBA player.
As a woman, Gauff is keenly dedicated to promoting women’s sports. Part of that is cross-promotion across different sports because the overall rise of popularity of women’s sports contributes to all female athletes.
In one such effort, the NBA invited Sabrina Ionescu from the WNBA to take on Steph Curry in a three-point shooting contest, given her previous success in the All-Star competition in the WNBA.
It was a pretty good battle as Ionescu put on a show pushing Curry quite a bit. He did end up winning the contest, but Gauff, when speaking ahead of the 2024 Dubai Championships, was fascinated by the outcome, pointing out how well her fellow athlete held her own against arguably the greatest shooter of all time.
“I think the Sabrina and Steph competition was great. I think most people were rooting for Sabrina. The fact that I think what she did was incredible, especially also shooting from the NBA line. There’s a lot of people saying that she should have shot from the WNBA line, that that would have mattered.”
“At the end of the day if you watch her play, watch her or Caitlin Clark play, they shoot from way past the NBA range quite often, so I think that debate was silly.”
For Gauff, the demonstration was important to show that women’s athletes are not that far off from men’s athletes in most sports. The hard work and training pay off tremendously, and they’re certainly much better than many probably expect.
“She lost. Steph is definitely the greatest three-point shooter ever. The fact is that Damian Lillard, I am pretty sure he scored 26 in his three-point contest, and she had 26, so she would have tied him. So I think that argument is silly. It’s just a competition.”
In the three-point contest, Ionescu scored 26 points, a mark, which would give her a spot in the shootout for the final round in the regular three-point contest.
“She just happened to lose. I just hope they continue to do this. It just humbles a lot of men in the world. I really like that. Especially basketball, that type of competition, it’s something physicality doesn’t always matter. I think that’s what makes it cool.”
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