WNBA: Sabrina Ionescu has completed rather a lot, and has extra to attain

Editor’s Be aware: That is one in all a collection of tales rating the highest 30 gamers within the WNBA as a part of Quickbooks’ “WNBA Hoopers Hierarchy.” Try the remainder of the rankings right here.

An icon on the courtroom and off the courtroom, Sabrina Ionescu is likely one of the largest names in girls’s basketball.

Earlier than there was Caitlin Clark, there was Sabrina Ionescu—one other star that made her mark on the faculty scene after which got here into the WNBA with excessive expectations. She’s been capable of see her workforce develop from the bottom up, whereas bettering as a participant and chief. She’s additionally constructed a thriving model for herself as properly.

Ionescu is available in at No. 10 within the WNBA Hoopers Hierarchy, Swish Enchantment’s rating of the highest 30 gamers within the WNBA. It’s a great place for her, giving credit score to her expertise and the influence she has already had, but nonetheless acknowledging that she has room to develop in her profession.

Leaving Oregon with unfinished enterprise

Photograph by Ethan Miller/Getty Photos

Ionescu arrived at Oregon because the No. 4-ranked recruit within the class of 2016, desirous to make an influence on a program and never simply be a part of a faculty with a depth of expertise.

Throughout her time with the Geese, her accolades included Pac-12 Freshman of the Yr, three-time Pac-12 Participant of the Yr, Pac-12 champion and Nationwide Participant of the Yr, together with quite a lot of different honors. She additionally broke the report for many triple-doubles in NCAA historical past, amongst ladies and men. Ionescu turned Oregon into one of many nation’s extra distinguished packages, ensuing within the faculty attracting different highly-ranked recruits in subsequent years.

Going into her senior season at Oregon, the workforce was one of many nation’s favorites to win the nationwide championship. Sadly, the NCAA Event was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and we weren’t capable of see that come to fruition. Though the NCAA gave all gamers an additional yr of eligibility, Ionescu determined to declare for the 2020 WNBA Draft. She was chosen No. 1 total by the New York Liberty.

Ionescu’s influence went rather a lot additional than her accomplishments at Oregon. We at the moment are in an period the place high recruits select schools primarily based not on repute however due to match. Ionescu helped widen the faculty panorama in comparison with the earlier era.

Constructing from the bottom up with the Liberty

Photograph by Chris Marion/NBAE through Getty Photos

The Liberty nonetheless have by no means received a WNBA championship, and after they bought the No. 1 choose within the 2020 draft, they have been actually within the trenches. Ionescu was a highly-regarded star popping out of school and plenty of noticed her arrival as the beginning of a brand new period for the Liberty. But, they didn’t anticipate every thing to occur immediately. (Possibly a lesson for Indiana Fever followers proper now.)

That yr, the WNBA performed a shortened season within the “Wubble” because of the pandemic. Ionescu solely performed two full video games with the Liberty earlier than spraining her ankle within the third recreation and lacking the remainder of her rookie season. The Liberty went 2-20 on that season and didn’t make the playoffs. She got here again in 2021, enjoying properly however nonetheless feeling the consequences of that ankle. The Liberty’s efficiency improved vastly with the addition of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, and New York received 10 extra video games than they’d the earlier season. They ended 12-20, making the playoffs however dropping within the first spherical.

In 2022, the Liberty employed a brand new head coach, Sandy Brondello, a former participant and championship-winning head coach with the Phoenix Mercury. She helped take the Liberty to the next stage; they went 16-20 and made the playoffs. New York misplaced within the first spherical once more, however the progress was evident of their play.

It was additionally the primary time Ionescu regarded actually wholesome in her WNBA profession. She recorded the league’s first 30-point triple double, made her first All-Star look and was morphing extra the elite participant individuals anticipated her to be.

In 2023, New York made main roster strikes, buying and selling for Jonquel Jones and signing Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot in free company. Now, Ionescu had the assistance she wanted to lift the Liberty to a championship stage. The 2023 Liberty went 32-8, making it to the WNBA Finals. The addition of Vandersloot additionally meant that Ionescu may very well be extra of an off-ball shooter, as a substitute of the on-ball facilitator she had been in her first seasons. This diminished the stress on her and allowed her to get into extra of a taking pictures groove.

Ionescu has seen this workforce from the bottom up. She’s was one of many league’s most elite 3-point shooters, a facilitator, a frontrunner and an influence participant.

A mogul within the making

Photograph by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE through Getty Photos

Ionescu’s on-court success has additionally been matched by her off-court endeavors. As a Nike athlete, Sabrina is one in all few WNBA gamers along with her personal model beneath Nike and a signature shoe. Her Sabrina 1’s have been broadly praised by gamers and followers alike as a fantastic shoe on and off the courtroom. She’s additionally given again by means of her SI20 Basis, giving sneakers to youth throughout the nation and holding occasions for younger basketball gamers. Ionescu was additionally featured on the quilt of NBA 2K24.

In 2024, she additionally made an look at NBA All-Star Weekend the place she went up towards Steph Curry in a first-of-its-kind 3-point contest. On the WNBA’s 2023 All-Star Weekend, Ionescu turned in the very best efficiency in 3-point taking pictures contest historical past, WNBA or NBA, resulting in Curry difficult her. The competitors was for charity, with Ionescu simply dropping to Curry by a number of factors. It was essentially the most seen a part of the NBA All-Star Weekend, and one other instance of how a lot individuals wish to watch girls’s sports activities.

Sabrina Ionescu represents one the primary gamers within the “new” era of girls athletes—those that have helped construct the second we’re at present experiencing, but additionally will get to expertise it themselves, too. A participant whose star nonetheless is rising, she is an instance of how greatness develops over time and the way endurance is vital in professional sports activities.