A chorus of criticism came for TNT’s Kenny Smith after the broadcaster repeatedly opined Sabrina Ionescu shouldn’t have shot from the NBA 3-point line during her historic shootout against Steph Curry.
The Liberty star Ionescu chose to set up behind the NBA line rather than the WNBA line for Saturday night’s head-to-head 3-point shooting contest, which the Warriors’ Curry narrowly won by a score of 29-26.
“She should have shot it from the women’s line,” Smith said during the TNT broadcast. “That would have been a fair contest.”
The comment garnered instant pushback from fellow analyst Reggie Miller, who replied, “Why are you putting those boundaries on her?”
Smith doubled down, saying, “She should have shot from the line. There is a women’s tee in golf and there’s a men’s tee for a reason.”
Miller later said, “You just want her playing with dolls, right?” Smith responded, “There’s nothing wrong with playing with dolls.”
The organizers of Saturday’s event originally announced Ionescu would shoot from the WNBA line, which maxes out at 22 feet, 1.75 inches. Ionescu quickly clarified, however, that she planned to shoot from the NBA line, which maxes out at 23 feet, 9 inches.
Saturday’s shootout came down to the wire, yet Smith chose to question Ionescu’s strategy anyway, prompting plenty of social-media backlash against the broadcaster.
“Sabrina Ionescu and Stephen Curry made it abundantly clear prior to this shootout that their goal was to dismantle misconceptions and stereotypes about women’s basketball,” Jackie Powell, who covers the Liberty for The Next Hoops, wrote on X. “Clearly Kenny Smith either didn’t get the memo or didn’t pay attention to the press prior to the shootout.”
Sharing a similar sentiment was Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Brittni Donaldson, who wrote, “Sabrina hitting the exact score that [Damian Lillard] won with [in Saturday’s NBA 3-point contest], losing to Steph, and the immediate commentary being ‘welp, she should’ve shot from the women’s line’ pretty much sums up our experience if ya’ll are wondering.”
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid also appeared to weigh in, writing, “Kenny smith been drinking lmao.”
The first-of-its-kind shootout between an NBA star and a WNBA star took place seven months after Ionescu set the record for both leagues by scoring 37 out of a maximum 40 points in the final round of the 2023’s WNBA 3-point contest.
Ionescu then challenged Curry, a two-time NBA 3-point contest winner, to a shootout after he celebrated her record-setting performance as “RIDICULOUS” in a social-media post at the time.
Following Saturday’s contest, Ionescu, 26, and Curry, 35, hailed the event as a success.
“Just continuing to be able to use my platform, and I think a night like tonight shows a lot of young girls and young boys that if you can shoot, you can shoot,” Ionescu said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or boy. I think it just matters the heart that you have in wanting to be the best that you can be.”
