INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart met near center court Saturday night.<\/p>\n
They may be wearing different color threads for this year\u2019s WNBA All-Star game but they still made sure to stick to their preseason routine.<\/p>\n
It started by locking pinkies, then they continued with the rest of the special handshake they do before every game and then Stewart went in for a tight hug with a toothy smile.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s game \u2014 a 151-131 win by Team Collier over Team Clark \u2014 was the punctuation on a fun three days of festivities during the league\u2019s midseason break.<\/p>\n
Ionescu went in with the right mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely no desire or care if we win or not,\u201d Ionescu told The Post with a laugh. \u201cNo, I mean, I hope I don\u2019t even play that many minutes to be honest, we play in two days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu #20 of the New York Liberty defends against Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty during the first quarter of the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images<\/p>\n
She\u2019s got a point.<\/p>\n
The Liberty are scheduled to host the Fever on Tuesday. The team\u2019s break \u2014 if you can call it that for those who participated in All-Star festivities \u2014 was short-lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it\u2019s fun,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cI think it probably would have been a little bit more competitive if teams didn\u2019t play in such a short amount of days, and I think that\u2019s something as we\u2019re talking into our [collective bargaining agreement] and understanding, like All-Stars don\u2019t really have a break. We finish, we get on a flight the next day, we\u2019re here, jam-packed weekend, wanting to pour into the fans, show up to events, do 3-point contests, skills contest, and then playing a game and fly right back to practice and play in three days. And so I think that\u2019s something obviously as players we want to be able to come out here during this time, put on a great show for the fans, but also take care of our bodies because we don\u2019t have time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabrina Ionescu #20 of the New York Liberty shoots from a 4-point circle against Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty during the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Caitlin Clark had been anxiously awaiting this weekend since it was announced last summer that Indianapolis would host the 2025 WNBA All-Star weekend.<\/p>\n
Despite earning her second consecutive All-Star nod, Clark watched the Friday and Saturday night festivities from the sidelines as she continues to deal with a groin injury.<\/p>\n
Clark said it\u2019s \u201ccertainly unfortunate\u201d she couldn\u2019t participate in the 3-point contest nor the All-Star Game like she planned.<\/p>\n
Caitlin Clark watches following a WNBA All-Star basketball game against Team Collier, Saturday, July 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. AP<\/p>\n
But she said she did her best to balance enjoying the weekend and receiving treatment for her injury.<\/p>\n
The Liberty are scheduled to host the Fever on Tuesday for their first game after the midseason break. Clark\u2019s status for that game is uncertain.<\/p>\n
Sonia Citron didn\u2019t think Ionescu was serious about giving the Mystics rookie half of her $62,575 prize money for winning the 3-point contest.<\/p>\n
But Ionescu swears she\u2019s a woman of her word.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think she was being for real at all,\u201d Citron said when Ionescu offered before the event. \u201cBut I guess she was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consider this a tip of the crown from the champion to the first-year player who had courage to compete against the seasoned veterans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart met near center court Saturday night. They may be…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":77157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[233,1520,15534,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-77156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-caitlin-clark","9":"tag-new-york-liberty","10":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114883764089574204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}