Sabrina Ionescu WNBA May 19, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) shoots the ball against the Washington Mystics at Entertainment & Sports Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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On Friday, WNBA superstar Sabrina Ionescu ripped off a historic 3-point performance in the 2023 3-Point Contest. The New York Liberty sensation, recently announced as the cover girl for a special edition of NBA 2K24, hit a ridiculous 25 of 27 attempts. Her performance, of course, shattered records in both the league’s and the NBA’s 3-Point Contest. But there was just one problem.

Ionescu’s record-breaking performance in the WNBA 3-Point Contest took place in the middle of the day.

ESPN primed itself to air the KIA WNBA Skills Challenge and Starry 3-Point Contest at 4 p.m. Eastern on Friday. The network brought one of its strongest crews – Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, and Holly Rowe – to the event in Las Vegas. But although ABC will broadcast the All-Star Game in primetime – a significant move, to be sure – the fun and games unfortunately didn’t get that luxury.

While the W had the afternoon, the Association controlled the night again on the Worldwide Leader. ESPN televised two Summer League games in the Friday evening primetime slot. The Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers played first, followed by a matchup between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs boast No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, which would be a logical reason to put that game on in primetime. However, Wembanyama finished his Summer League action earlier this week. So, the super-prospect from France didn’t play in Friday night’s game against the Spurs.

Onlookers on Twitter criticized the network and the league for holding the event during the middle of the day. Many expressed disappointment and resentment that they either couldn’t see Ionescu’s performance or were upset for others.

The last point is perhaps the most frustrating of the entire ordeal. Ionescu is not some nobody in the sport. Sabrina built a legacy at her prior stomping grounds, the University of Oregon. She dazzled for years, boasts the all-time triple-doubles record, and had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, Ionescu may have led the Ducks to a National Championship in 2020. She became a legitimate superstar and will even have her own signature shoe coming out.

Also, Ionescu plays in Brooklyn, New York, for the Liberty, a potential boon for the league with her playing in the biggest market in the U.S. Not only that, but superstar Breanna Stewart joined the Liberty this off-season. Like the tweet mentioned above, the team is a title contender. All of this did not come from nothing. The star power that Ionescu and other WNBA stars have built has been earned.

While the NBA may ‘own’ the primetime slate for Summer League action, let’s not be ridiculous here. The games do not nearly have the same stakes as All-Star weekend festivities. NBA TV will broadcast more games as the Summer League Playoffs begin on Saturday night, but not on ESPN. Instead, the WWL will air a UFC event. NBA TV also aired games on Friday night, so in fairness, it’s not as if that network was unoccupied. There was no space to off-load them. But 4 p.m. Eastern is still a tough spot to do something with. And since the Summer League is also in Las Vegas, you could argue that they could have played more fairly to the W.

Generally, the WNBA All-Star festivities should have taken higher precedence over the NBA Summer League action. Because, at this point, the voices are growing too loud to ignore completely. The W has built itself a mess of optics on its own as well. Optics that were criticized by star players in the league this week, so if anyone feels like they were treated like second-class citizens, it’s hard to argue against that.

You can’t help but feel like it’s a missed opportunity. That is especially considering the historical circumstances that played out with Sabrina’s unbelievable performance. Friday night’s primetime slate was likely dominated again by WWE Friday Night Smackdown on Fox, which just had a historic night last week, as far as TV ratings go. Funny enough, while the W was arranged behind the NBA on ESPN, Friday night’s episode of Smackdown was thoroughly dominated by the show’s most prominent women’s stars.

Who knows how ESPN would have fared had it been at night? No one ever will. But the rules of the road play a lot friendlier than they used to, and that’s why it’s a shame. At some point, better has to come around. The WNBA, its players, and its fans have earned it, just like everyone else around them right now.

About Chris Novak

Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022

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