Kayla McBride said she was not officially invited to the WNBA’s 3-point contest, even though a text about it reached her agent just 48 hours before the event. She posted Wednesday on her Instagram Story that the message was a “half a-- invite” and said she would not be taking part in Friday’s contest at 8 p.m. ET.
The explanation landed because McBride was not the only big name outside the field. Sabrina Ionescu also said she never officially got invited, and she pushed back on the idea that she declined. The event was set to go ahead without McBride, Ionescu and Caitlin Clark, with Bridget Carleton, Azzi Fudd, Natisha Hiedeman, Rhyne Howard, Marina Mabrey and Janelle Salaün named as the participants.
McBride’s comments matter because they cut against the simple version of events that a player turned down a spot in the contest. She said people should not believe posts suggesting she was afraid of shooting, and she urged fans to focus on the shooters already entered. That is a sharper message than a standard no-thanks response, and it leaves the WNBA in the awkward position of having to explain why a text sent through an agent was treated as something less than a formal invitation.
There is also a plain performance question underneath the dispute. McBride said she has taken part in three previous 3-point contests, last appearing in 2024, and she has never won. She was averaging 18.2 points per game through 28 games, matching her career-best output from 2018, which only adds to the sense that this was not a case of a player who had faded from the conversation.
For now, the contest proceeds on Friday night with the listed field intact and the invitation debate unresolved. McBride made clear she was not snubbing the event, and Ionescu said the same in her own way. What remains unanswered is why two players who say they were never formally asked ended up absent from one of the WNBA’s most visible shooting events.
