Sabrina Ionescu on the joy of playing with USA Basketball: "Everyone wants to put USA across their chests”

For basketball star Sabrina Ionescu, 2023 was a year to build on. She hit some of her biggest moments in her professional career, winning the WNBA Three-Point Contest in record-breaking fashion, and helping the New York Liberty to the WNBA Finals. The Liberty enjoyed an excellent run to the finals before losing to the Las Vegas Aces, making it the deepest playoff run Ionescu had experienced.

Though the 3-1 loss was tough, Ionescu said she was able to learn from it.

“We had to dig deep in order to try and grind out a lot of those wins. The playoffs is a completely different season than the regular season. Everyone's fighting for a chance to win and fighting for their season to continue to live on and not die. Understanding how we had to continue to raise the bar, and we did so collectively, and it was really impressive to see how a new group that was formed in one year was able to make it as far as we did.”

• FIBA Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournaments preview

Sabrina Ionescu on learning from basketball's best

A few weeks later, Ionescu was at the training camp for Team USA, practicing with some of the same players she had faced on the court in the WNBA playoffs.

“You play against these players all year long, being able to come and share the floor with the common goal of winning gold and being able to do so is really fun, because instead of going against each other day in and day out, you're able to come together and make each other better. So I enjoy every opportunity that I get to come to a training camp and continue to try and be my best,” she said.

Ionescu was part of the American team that won gold at the FIBA World Cup in 2022, but she has not been to the Olympics. She said being at camp with players like Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner, who both have multiple Olympic gold medals, gives her a chance to observe and learn from them.

“You're just able to tell how they carry themselves and how they go about their business every single drill, recovery, what they eat. It's just an opportunity to get the best players in the world together and figure out what makes them so great. And everyone's so unique in their own way, and these opportunities don't come by often. Everyone wants to put USA across their chests and represent their country, and I never take one of these moments for granted.”

Sabrina Ionescu on training with Team USA: “It's just staying true to who I am, but also continuing to learn"

Ionescu’s signature shoe launched in September of 2023. When the NBA season started in October, the Sabrina 1s were worn by Jrue Holiday and Mikal Bridges, even by officials.

"That was the point of having the shoes be unisex and understanding a lot of what we worked for is to be able to create that opportunity for anyone to be able to put on the shoe. And so being able to see that, obviously that's all I look for now, every time I'm watching TV is what shoes are people wearing and listening to the feedback also of my teammates and what they thought they really liked in the shoe and continuing to take that into consideration. But it's been an honor to see how many people have been able to wear the shoes.”

Ionescu was named to the roster of USA Basketball for the Olympic qualifiers in Antwerp, Belgium, 8-11 February. She wants to make the most out of the opportunity.

“It's just staying true to who I am, but also continuing to learn, being a sponge and being one of the youngest players here. It’s listening to Coach Cheryl [Reeve] and what she wants from us. Understanding we won gold and the World Cup. But wanting to continue to build off of that and now hitting the ground running, understanding what we want offensively and defensively and continuing to pick the brains of the best players who have won a gold medal.”