Sabrina Ionescu is joining Unrivaled as the new 3-on-3 league's final player

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Sabrina Ionescu is joining Unrivaled as the new 3-on-3 league's final player

2024-12-24 07:44 Last Updated At：07:50

Sabrina Ionescu was thrilled to be part of Unrivaled — the new 3-on-3 league.

The Liberty star guard who helped New York win the first championship in franchise history earlier this year signed a historic agreement on Monday with the league. She'll join the Phantom BC that made a trade Saturday night to acquire Natasha Cloud.

"It was a huge decision getting me to play or not," Ionescu said in a phone interview Monday night. "I weighed out all my options and decided to do what’s best for me and my career. Being able to take part in a league that is the first of its kind with a historic deal and be on the ownership side of it is important for me.”

Ionescu said the league gave her some flexibility in her schedule if she needs to step away for a day or two. The NBA All-Star Game is on Feb. 16, which is in the middle of the Unrivaled season. The league has no team games during the NBA All-Star weekend. There's discussions of her potentially competing in another 3-point contest with Stephen Curry.

“I have certain dates that I have to be gone for. They were very accommodating with things I already accepted and have to be gone for before I committed to the league,” Ionescu said.

Ionescu will also be playing with Brittney Griner, Marina Mabrey, Katie Lou Samuelson and Satou Sabally. Ionescu was teammates with Sabally at Oregon.

“I’m really excited being able to play with her and knowing we’ve wanted to play with each other for a long time since we departed from Oregon,” Ionescu said.

The 27-year-old Ionescu is recovering from a procedure she had earlier this month on her right thumb to stabilize the ulnar collateral ligament. She's not cleared yet, but is on target to be able to play at the start of the Unrivaled season.

“I should be cleared and ready to go and be able to be there and be a part of it,” Ionescu said. “The first year was something I wanted to experience and have ownership is a big part in that as well.”

Ionescu said she hurt the thumb in the final 90 seconds of Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, but there was no way she was going to miss the decisive Finals game which New York won. She went 1 for 19 in the deciding Game 5 against Minnesota but found other ways to help the team win, with eight assists and seven rebounds.

“I didn’t know the severity of my injury when I did it. I didn’t care to know and wanted to do whatever I could to play and try to do the best I can for us to win,” she said. “Thankfully I was able to do everything beside shooting which now makes a lot of sense since I couldn’t grip a basketball.”

Ionescu took a few weeks to see if the injury would heal on its own after the season was over. She got a few opinions from doctors before deciding that surgery was the best option.

This is the first time that Ionescu is taking part in an offseason league.

“I’m excited. Obviously it's a great opportunity to be able to play and continue to refine my game in the offseason," she said. “It’s a great opportunity to compete against the best players in the league that are now in Unrivaled.”

It has been a busy year for the former Oregon great, who also got married and earned an Olympic gold medal.

“It’s been amazing. When I sit back and think about everything that happened this year, it puts a lot in perspective when things aren’t going as well,” she said. “I've had those years where everything was going wrong and then to have a year like this where you stop and smell the roses and everything you prayed and wished for happens.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Gunmen kill 9 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach with 1 shooter dead and another arrested

SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen shot dead nine people on Sunday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, police said. One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second arrested.

The suspect was in critical condition, authorities said. A massive emergency response was underway, with injured people loaded into ambulances.

Eleven people were confirmed wounded, according to a statement by police in New South Wales state, where Sydney is located. Two of those hurt were police officers.

Australian authorities haven't confirmed what the target of the mass shooting was. Hundreds had gathered for an event at Bondi Beach called Chanukah by the Sea, which was celebrating the start of the Hanukkah Jewish festival.

Police said their operation was “ongoing" and that a “number of suspicious items located in the vicinity” were being examined by specialist officers.

Dramatic footage apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels showed someone appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man's weapon at him.

Emergency services were called to Campbell Parade about 6.45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired, police said.

Local news outlets spoke to distressed and bloody bystanders who witnessed the horror. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns described the reports and images coming from the scene as “deeply distressing."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with all those affected,

“The scenes in Bondi are shocking and distressing,” he said. “Police and emergency responders are on the ground working to save lives.”

Mass shooting deaths in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

In 2022, two police officers were shot and killed by Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state. The three shooters in that incident, conspiracy theorists who hated the police, were also shot and killed by officers after a six-hour siege in the region of Wieambilla, along with one of their neighbors.

McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand.