Just a few days before the tart of the 2025 All-Star Weekend in San Francisco, the NBA has decided to pull out from the Stephen Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu rematch, after both athletes competed in an exciting three-point contest against each other in last year’s celebrations in Indiana.
There’s no doubt in everyone’s mind that this challenge from beyond the arc was one of the highlight’s of the competition, as the league brought together two of the biggest starts in the NBA and WNBA. Talks went on for weeks trying to make it happen, especially as this year’s All-Star activities will be held at Golden State‘s Chase Center.
“We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment,” explained NBA spokesman Mike Bass in a statement this week. “We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.”
While the four-time NBA champion said he wished for a rematch to occur, with discussions of making it a 2-on-2 format this season potentially including Klay Thompson, and WNBA’s reigning Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark. However, negotiations didn’t really seem to ever take off.
The NBA even considered including the three-point competition during Sunday night’s lineup, in between matches of the new All-Star mini-tournament, rather than last year when it occured during All-Star Saturday.
Curry defeated Ionescu 29-26 last campaign in this first-ever kind of competition at the league’s weekend showcase. One of the best news to come out of the showdown, was the fact that it generated a lot of money for their respective foundations.
“We’ve been talking about finding different ways to change this up next year,” Sabrina said last year, anticipating a 2025 rematch. “I think he has a partner in mind that’s going to join him. So I’m open to any partner that could help me win and take that belt that he has up front and center away from him.”
