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Sabrina Ionescu Throws Elbow At High School Kid During Heated Moment Of Exhibition Game In Manila

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Sabrina Ionescu Philippines Manila Exhibition Elbow Angry Foul
© Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Sabrina Ionescu does not care who or how old you are. The reigning WNBA champion is going to play to win.

However, the latest clip of the 27-year-old superstar has sparked a debate about her behavior.

Ionescu made history on Monday when she arrived to Manila for the first leg of her three-leg Asia Tour. She is the first female player with a signature Nike sneaker line to tour Asia. Other athletes to do the same include Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. The New York Liberty guard is the first WNBA player to make the same trip.

Manila is the first stop of the tour. From there, Ionescu will visit Guangzhou and Hong Kong. She will join several youth basketball clinics, host a grassroots camp for girls, hang out at Nike retail stores, and visit local schools. It’s pretty cool.

Sabrina Ionescu also played in an exhibition showcase while in the Philippines, which is where the controversial (for lack of better word) moment took place. Nike went all-out.

As did Ionescu, who baited Filipino basketball legend L.A. Tenorio into an ugly airball.

She was cooking!

There was a moment in which Ionescu momentarily lost her cool.

Sabrina Ionescu was riled up!

One of her opponents, who appeared to be in high school or early college, kept beating her to a spot to play tight defense. She was annoyed by how hard he was going during an exhibition. It started with a stare down.

Moments later, Ionescu initiated hard contact on the baseline and threw out her arm. The defender got called for a foul even though he was in the right place at the right spot. She threw the ball in his chest.

Visibly frustrated at first, Sabrina Ionescu eventually cracked a smile and laughed it off.

Most people were able to laugh alongside one of the best shooters of all-time. Sabrina Ionescu was in game mode. She plays hard against anybody, anywhere, any time. No big deal.

On the flip side of that conversation, the haters were quick to get upset with how she acted toward a high school kid during an exhibition game. They used the skirmish as a reason to diminish the talent level of women’s basketball. Ionescu got bodied by a random guy in the Philippines and freaked out. Yikes.

I land somewhere in the middle. I do think Ionescu got beat on defense. That happened. But I also think she was more frustrated that the defender was playing so hard during her showcase, not as much that she got beat. Chill out, bro!

No matter how you feel about this viral moment, it is bad news for the WNBA. Sabrina Ionescu is playing possessed during an exhibition game in Manila. That kind of mentality is how the Liberty will repeat.