As Sabrina’s ascension occurred, Golden State was forming its own dynasty, putting together a team that accentuated one another’s strengths even at the expense of personal accolades at times. It’s hard not to see the impact of that closeness to Steph’s Warriors on Sabrina and how she approaches the game. While her relationship with Kobe Bryant couldn’t help but define her early career (and certainly that drive and determination that Bryant was famous for is reflected in her stoicism and killer mindset), it might just be Curry who helped set the tone for how Ionescu evolves as a player on the court in her quest for greatness.
Curry’s been a willing mentor, helping Sabrina navigate everything from her own ankle injury to being the face of a franchise to dealing with multiple stars. The Liberty built a superteam this past offseason, bringing in Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Courtney Vandersloot to elevate an up-and-coming squad that finished with the seventh seed in the playoffs in 2022.
“I talk to [Steph] regularly,” Ionescu tells Dime. “It's always a full circle moment to be able to grow up watching them on TV and on a court, and then be able to pick up the phone and call them if you need to. I know what that feels like, and I want to be that for younger athletes as well, using that experience that I have to want to be that mentor for a lot of others as well. I never want to take those moments for granted.”
Growing up in Walnut Creek, Calif., not far from where Steph Curry used to have a home, Sabrina Ionescu had an up close and personal look at the greatest shooter to ever live. She quickly became a fan, admiring his passing, his feel for the game, and of course the way he could fill it up from downtown.
It was around third or fourth grade when Sabrina started making her own way to the court. There was something about being alone in the gym that spoke to her — other sports weren’t as easy to play solo, and she looked up to her older brother Andrei, who would hoop with his friends. It was a sanctuary, away from even her twin Eddy (who she notoriously played two-on-two games with at nearby Larkey Park), a place to funnel her introspection into a goal, and to use the otherworldly focus that would quickly become her superpower to make that goal reality.
Even in fourth grade, it was clear Sabrina was special as her father Dan looked to get her the best competition they could find. That meant a trip to the Wagner Ranch Elementary School gym in Orinda.
All of it – the All-Star appearances, that epic Three-Point Contest record (an all-time record of 37 points with just two misses), the now historic offense of the 2023 Liberty, the soon-to-be-broken record for most threes in a season (currently 121, she’s at 119 as of Sept. 5) – was in jeopardy of not happening at all.
Ionescu suffered a Grade 3 sprain and torn ligaments in her left ankle just three games into her rookie season, and ended up missing the rest of the year as a result. But her drive to play and refusal to quit – attributes that made her so great in the first place – threatened to derail her career entirely. She wasn’t fully healthy heading into her second season and tried to play through it, doing more damage to the ankle in the process.
“There was a question of if she could even play again,” Rowe says. “It wasn’t just could you come back and be good, it was about whether or not she could even walk normally again. That hasn’t really been documented. That is largely undiscovered of how severe it was and how important that comeback has been.”
The pain was relentless, but Ionescu felt she owed it to the team and everyone who supported her to keep going. The result was an ankle that required eight months of healing, and if that time hadn’t been taken, there was a chance she wouldn’t have been able to play, much less be the All-Star she’s grown into.
“I played my first full season in the W really banged up and almost had to get reconstructive surgery on my ankle because of how much I was pushing to try and play,” Ionescu says. “Obviously, it was an internal battle because to the media and the rest of the world, it was that I wasn't living up to this expectation of who I was, but little did they know what I was dealing with and what I had to face and not really trusting the process of just getting fully healthy before I returned onto the court.”
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Writer – MARTIN RICKMAN | Creative Director – Martin Rickman | ASSOCIATE EDITOR – BILL DIFILIPPO
Designers – Carlos Sotelo Olivas, Daisy James | PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF NIKE AND BRANDON TODD (NEW YORK LIBERTY) | Project Manager - Jason Tabrys
Martin Rickman / Editorial Director / Dime and Uproxx Sports
SABRINA IONESCU IS trusting the process in her quest for greatness
STAYING THE COURSE
“I'm probably in the polar opposite corner, the furthest distance from a court that you could see someone,” Cal Stars Basketball Club coach, former Miramonte High School head coach, and current Carondelet High School head coach Kelly Sopak says. “And I just see this little kid dribbling with her left hand and she's got these gangly arms and I look over, like what in the hell is that? She was not tall, she was short, but her arms were unnaturally long for her body, and she had this incredible ability to dribble with her left hand and she was just dribbling around everybody. And so that was it. It caught my eye from 84 feet away. Just a glance, but enough of a glance for me to get up, walk over there, watch more of her, find out who her dad is and make sure that she stayed with us.”
Sopak would coach Ionescu at the club and high school levels, and saw her emerge from a youth basketball phenom to a highly sought after recruit who would quickly set school records on her way to becoming the most decorated Oregon player ever, and the first overall pick for the New York Liberty in 2020. Her fondness for the Cal Stars extended well after her time playing for the club, as she sponsors the top team – the Cal Stars Ionescu Elite.
“I've always said this about her,” Sopak says. “I don't know how much she likes to win, but I do know how much she hates losing. And I think she hates losing more than she likes winning. That has not changed. That's what drives her.”
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She earned it. She earned it with one of the most successful seasons in school history. One of the most successful seasons in college history. The triple-double record. The points, rebounds, and assists. I just want to keep reminding people that she’s earned it at every single step.
Younger athletes are certainly taking notice of Ionescu. She’s consistently among the top-selling jerseys in the W, and her Nike shoe – the Sabrina 1 – is set to be on the feet of girls and boys across the country. While Sabrina maintains that ferocity and quiet resolve in most interactions, the 25-year-old relishes being around fans, those same kids who might be watching her on TV or at a game, hoping someday to play in college or the pros.
That’s why her shoe launch means so much to her. Sure, it’s the culmination of almost two decades of hard work, but it also gives fans another chance to see themselves through Sab’s journey.
“She earned it,” ESPN’s Holly Rowe, who hosts WNBA Central with Holly Rowe on SiriusXM NBA Radio, says of Sabrina’s signature shoe. “There’s a lot of connection between Oregon and Nike, and there were probably some realistic conversations when she decided to come back for her senior year to chase a championship. She earned it with one of the most successful seasons in school history. One of the most successful seasons in college history. The triple-double record. The points, rebounds, and assists. I just want to keep reminding people that she’s earned it at every single step.”
The shoe itself was three years in the making, a milestone that capitalizes off her record-breaking career at Oregon, the sacrifices she made in becoming the No. 1 pick, the fight behind the scenes it took to overcome that devastating injury, All-Star appearances, a playoff berth, a W edition 2K Cover, and her continued efforts to bring a championship to a storied WNBA franchise.
“I think it's all part of the process,” Ionescu says, “finding out that I was going to have a shoe in 2020, but knowing that I had a couple years to be able to grow into who I am as a person and as a player. In the back of my mind I had this belief that I knew where I was headed, and just continuing to trust in the process and believe in myself that everything else will fall into place, and that's exactly the time that I'm at right now.”
Much of that battle happened privately. Pressure mounted on her to live up to the hype, as outside noise warped and distorted what was actually happening in Sabrina’s tight-knit world. The expectations she set for herself far exceeded those anyone else had, or continues to have, for her.
“She was really frustrated with a.) the injury, but b.) with herself,” Sopak says. “During a lot of that, she was practicing every day. Even in high school, she didn't stop. She needed to learn to listen to her body and all that. There's a bigger picture and I think that's been very good for her.”
Sabrina continues.
“It just taught me that people don't care and it's not about what others think. It’s really just trusting in myself, in the work that I've put in rehabbing. And when I was ready, which was last season, I finally was able to be healthy. I was able to showcase what I'm able to do in this league as a true second year player. I always try and remind myself of just how young I am in this league and I'm still figuring it out and giving myself grace through that process. Because it's tough, you're in a professional league and everyone's trying to come and take your job. And so for me it's just the perspective of that and learning lessons through the adversity, and staying patient, and understanding that I have a long career ahead of me. I can’t rush the process.”
That process is everything to Sabrina. It’s a visualization of who she wants to be, and where she’s going, and how she’s going to get there. You can see it when she stares into the distance during warmups. When she plays with her ring, a symbol of the relationship she’s fostered with her fiancé, Hroniss Grasu (a former Oregon and current Raiders lineman). When she breaks eye contact and looks down – almost within – while giving an extended answer to a question she’s asked.
This single-mindedness was a big part of the reason why she and Kobe vibed as well as they did. There’s no doubt he could see his relentless dedication in her. That gene spurs greatness, but it can be isolating. It can be hard to relate to otherwise. It can be misinterpreted.
“I think Sab is someone who wants to be great and wants to learn how to continue to grow and build that,” the former MVP Stewart says. “She’s receptive. One of the biggest things I’ve seen from her is that understanding of how to get better. What she does on the court speaks for itself, but she’s not content with where she is. I think that’s it. Each year she’s getting better, she’s getting more comfortable, she’s getting healthy, she’s learning how to take care of her body in this league.”
Some players talk about the process as if it gives them an opportunity to avoid expounding, or as a way to distance themselves from revealing who they really are. For Sabrina, the process is who she is. Everything to this point has been about getting to this point.
And the job isn’t finished.
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when you go through adversity you lose your identity a little bit. So I’m starting to feel like myself again, I’m getting back into it.
Sabrina let herself scream when it was over. She just had the best three-point shooting performance in WNBA history. After missing her first shot on the first rack, she then hit 20 in a row, an NBA/WNBA record that broke Craig Hodges 19 in a row from 1991. Following that miss, she made the rest.
25 of 27 shots.
The feat had the crowd in a daze at first, as if it wasn’t quite real. Once the initial shock wore off, one by one those watching – players, fans, team personnel, media, former players, basketball royalty, and everyone else – started making their way to their feet, with that energy bouncing off of each other, but folks careful not to disturb the balance, as if a whisper or a sudden movement would alter the legendary performance they all were witnessing.
“When the lights go bright, it's Sabrina time,” Sopak says. “Everyone's shocked. But when that came across my feed it didn’t even faze me. It's like, of course, that's what happens. The lights were on. That’s what Sabrina does.”
Rowe compares it to when she saw Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps set his first world record as a teenager.
“It was almost like you could feel electricity heighten,” Rowe says. “One person on the end of the bench stands up, then everyone else stands up on the bench, then the fans stand up. You realize something special is happening in front of your eyes. You can feel it on your skin. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just from a performance standpoint. Her feet were perfect. Her elbow was perfect. The angle. The spin. Everything was consistently perfect. Everyone in the building knew they were witnessing something great.”
Ionescu beamed. And after some hugs and an interview with Rowe, she went right over to the fans. To those kids in No. 20 Liberty jerseys. She let herself have that moment, posed for some selfies, and disappeared into the tunnel.
Then she was back to work.
“All the pressure for me is just internal – it's not external,” Ionescu says. “And so for me it's just being the best that I can and continuing to do that on the court, off the court as well. But no, I wouldn't say that I even think about the pressure or what the narrative was when I came into the league to where it's at now. I think for me, I just want to be the best and I'm going to work hard to accomplish that every day."
Some of these learnings are the result of growing up. At 25, Sabrina is still so young. But some of it is the natural resistance of elite athletes to slowing down. There’s that sense that if you slow down, if you detach, if you lose focus for even an instant, someone will take advantage and pass you.
Sopak refers to a conversation Sab had with Kevin Durant about taking that time to recover, and using that to stay on top. When Ionescu’s injury first occurred, she “didn’t know not to push through.” Durant essentially told Sabrina that if she wasn’t taking care of herself, and wasn’t healthy, she couldn’t help the team.
“Even this year when she sat out a game and I checked in on her,” Sopak says, “she was like, ‘I played the last game I shouldn't have played. I learned my lesson from before. I need to take care of myself.’”
It takes time and experience before it sinks in that there’s both active and passive growth. That recovery is just as important as the other work you put in.
Playing with her newest teammates hasn’t just done wonders for her game, and for her teammates, although the numbers speak for themselves. Stewart has had 40 points or more three times already this season, a WNBA record. Jones after the All-Star break has been a double-double machine. And Sabrina (17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and a 44.9 percent mark from deep) is on her way to one of the most efficient three-point shooting seasons in league history.
The growth she’s seen off the court as well can be reinvested, not just into her game, but into making her teammates better long term.
“I'm still learning from their experiences and I finally feel like I have vets on the team that have won championships, and can talk through their experiences and what they've gone through and how that can just help us as a team,” Ionescu says. “That's been the best part, is just absorbing and being a sponge to all the knowledge that is being talked about. And they do it obviously through their words, but also just through their actions and how they come in and lead every single day. So it's been good to learn from them and take in things that I didn't know before, just being in my third season playing. And I think it's pretty cool because all of us lead in such different ways and being able to do that collectively is important.”
The Liberty have kept going after the All-Star break as they continue to gel with the ultimate goal of bringing home the team’s first Championship despite four tries (although they haven’t made the Finals since 2002). New York had an impressive drubbing of the defending champion Aces with a 99-61 win on Aug. 6 (with Sab pouring in 31 points, seven assists and five rebounds), and in all have been 16-3 since the break through Sept. 5.
They took home the Commissioner’s Cup, taking down the Aces, 82-63, and are second only to Vegas in overall record (including an impressive win at home against the Aces on Aug. 28 to tie the regular season series). They also joined the Aces as the only WNBA teams ever to win 30 games in a season.
While there’s a long way to go, a clash with Las Vegas in the WNBA Finals almost seems destined to happen. Being in this sort of pressure cooker environment for the first time as a professional has overwhelmed young athletes in the past, but Sab is continuing to stay the course, enjoying the journey she’s been on while still being the same kid from the Bay who used to daydream in the gym that this day would come, while dribbling circles around her competition.
“I think every single season, every year, the whole point is to just grow as a person,” Ionescu says. “And obviously, my life's completely different now than when I was in high school living at home. I’m just growing. It’s just a completely different life that I'm living now than then. But I’m not forgetting where I came from. But I'm still the same person that I was then, and I haven't really let anything change who I am to my core. I’m continuing to take life lessons and learn every single year. I’m proud of just staying true to myself and understanding why I started playing the game when I was young, and not forgetting that little girl who was in love with the game of basketball and didn't care about what the world had to say.”
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When the lights go bright, it's Sabrina time. Everyone's shocked. But when that came across my feed, it didn’t even faze me. It's like, of course, that's what happens. The lights were on. That’s what Sabrina does.
KELLY SOPAK,
IONESCU'S HIGH SCHOOL COACH, ON HER 3-POINT CONTEST PERFORMANCE
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HOLLY ROWE,
ON SABRINA IONESCU'S SIGNATURE SHOE
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I HAD THIS BELIEF THAT I KNEW WHERE I WAS HEADED, AND JUST CONTINUING TO TRUST IN THE PROCESS AND BELIEVE IN MYSELF THAT EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE, AND THAT'S EXACTLY the time that I'm at right now.
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I talk to [Steph CURRY] regularly. It's always a full circle moment to be able to grow up watching them on TV and on a court, and then be able to pick up the phone and call them if you need to. I know what that feels like, and I want to be that for younger athletes as well. I never want to take those moments for granted.
sabrina ionescu,
ON MENtoRSHIP
Stewart especially has been a welcome voice in the locker room. She sees how great Sabrina can be, but also understands the pressure she puts on herself to be great. And she’s made it a priority to take some of that pressure off.
“One of the biggest things I’ve seen from her is that understanding of how to get better,” Stewart says. “What she does on the court speaks for itself, but she’s not content with where she is. [...] I’m really trying to instill in her that next play mentality. When things happen, get over it. Wins. Losses. Just go. Just keep going. Yes, see what you did wrong, learn from it, but keep going. If you get stuck down there, it’s going to be hard to come back up. Understanding that you want to be hardest on yourself individually is fine, but knowing you can give yourself grace and appreciate what you’re able to do is just as big.”
Some players talk about the process as if it gives them an opportunity to avoid expounding, or as a way to distance themselves from revealing who they really are. For Sabrina, the process is who she is. Everything to this point has been about getting to this point.
And the job isn’t finished.
Sabrina let herself scream when it was over. She just had the best three-point shooting performance in WNBA history. After missing her first shot on the first rack, she then hit 20 in a row, an NBA/WNBA record that broke Craig Hodges 19 in a row from 1991. Following that miss, she made the rest.
25 of 27 shots.
The feat had the crowd in a daze at first, as if it wasn’t quite real. Once the initial shock wore off, one by one those watching – players, fans, team personnel, media, former players, basketball royalty, and everyone else – started making their way to their feet, with that energy bouncing off of each other, but folks careful not to disturb the balance, as if a whisper or a sudden movement would alter the legendary performance they all were witnessing.
“When the lights go bright, it's Sabrina time,” Sopak says. “Everyone's shocked. But when that came across my feed it didn’t even faze me. It's like, of course, that's what happens. The lights were on. That’s what Sabrina does.”
Rowe compares it to when she saw Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps set his first world record as a teenager.
The gym is home. It’s always been home. So it’s sometimes hard to take breaks, to take vacations, to unplug. Her relationship with Grasu certainly helps. The pair have vacationed in Kona, Hawaii, and enjoy taking treks to the water, with her favorite spot being Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles (Grasu’s family lives and operates local spot Greco’s Pizza). They’ll cook out with his family (she makes sure to mention they grill, she does not) and just enjoy being present together.
Ionescu recently started practicing yoga, and admits that it didn’t come naturally at first. Yoga is a different set of muscles, is less about pushing yourself and more about settling in, and is more about acceptance than resistance. But the practice is developing additional flexibility, strengthening her feet, and giving her a different approach to training that can complement her work in the gym.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s also giving her a new respect for mindfulness.
“I think just stepping outside of where you normally work is a breath of fresh air,” Ionescu says, “and just working in a different environment and knowing that you're still bettering yourself is super important. So for me, I'm always in the gym or weight room, so getting into a yoga studio and being able to know that I'm still getting better but just being around different people in a different environment, just feels like a different part of my routine that I sometimes need to just detach from work and everyday life. And I think that's a part of recovery as well, is just detaching and still knowing though that you're getting better.”
Playing with her newest teammates hasn’t just done wonders for her game, and for her teammates, although the numbers speak for themselves. Stewart has had 40 points or more three times already this season, a WNBA record (ed note: make sure this is updated). Jones after the All-Star break has been a double-double machine. And Sabrina (*** ed note: updated numbers here) is on her way to the most efficient three-point shooting season in league history.
The growth she’s seen off the court as well can be reinvested, not just into her game, but into making her teammates better long term.
“I'm still learning from their experiences and I finally feel like I have vets on the team that have won championships, and can talk through their experiences and what they've gone through and how that can just help us as a team,” Ionescu says. “That's been the best part, is just absorbing and being a sponge to all the knowledge that is being talked about. And they do it obviously through their words, but also just through their actions and how they come in and lead every single day. So it's been good to learn from them and take in things that I didn't know before, just being in my third season playing. And I think it's pretty cool because all of us lead in such different ways and being able to do that collectively is important.”
Stewart especially has been a welcome voice in the locker room. She sees how great Sabrina can be, but also understands the pressure she puts on herself to be great. And she’s made it a priority to take some of that pressure off.
Writer – Bill DiFilippo
Creative Director – Martin Rickman
Designers – Carlos Sotelo Olivas,
Daisy James, Joe Petrolis
Photographer – ALEX GAGNE
Project Manager - Jason Tabrys
"
"
I talk to [Steph CURRY] regularly. It's always a full circle moment to be able to grow up watching them on TV and on a court, and then be able to pick up the phone and call them if you need to. I know what that feels like, and I want to be that for younger athletes as well. I never want to take those moments for granted.
sabrina ionescu,
ON MENtoRSHIP
The gym is home. It’s always been home. So it’s sometimes hard to take breaks, to take vacations, to unplug. Her relationship with Grasu certainly helps. The pair have vacationed in Kona, Hawaii, and enjoy taking treks to the water, with her favorite spot being Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles (Grasu’s family lives and operates local spot Greco’s Pizza). They’ll cook out with his family (she makes sure to mention they grill, she does not) and just enjoy being present together.
Ionescu recently started practicing yoga, and admits that it didn’t come naturally at first. Yoga is a different set of muscles, is less about pushing yourself and more about settling in, and is more about acceptance than resistance. But the practice is developing additional flexibility, strengthening her feet, and giving her a different approach to training that can complement her work in the gym.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s also giving her a new respect for mindfulness.
“I think just stepping outside of where you normally work is a breath of fresh air,” Ionescu says, “and just working in a different environment and knowing that you're still bettering yourself is super important. So for me, I'm always in the gym or weight room, so getting into a yoga studio and being able to know that I'm still getting better but just being around different people in a different environment, just feels like a different part of my routine that I sometimes need to just detach from work and everyday life. And I think that's a part of recovery as well, is just detaching and still knowing though that you're getting better.”
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"
IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I HAD THIS BELIEF THAT I KNEW WHERE I WAS HEADED, AND JUST CONTINUING TO TRUST IN THE PROCESS AND BELIEVE IN MYSELF THAT EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE, AND THAT'S EXACTLY the time that I'm at right now.
SABRINA IONESCU
STAYING ON
SABRINA IONESCU
I've always said this about her. I don't know how much she likes to win, but I do know how much she hates losing. And I think she hates losing more than she likes winning. That has not changed. That's what drives her.