PHOENIX — Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark turned down an opportunity to participate in the WNBA 3-point contest so she could focus on rest and her mental health, she said Friday afternoon.

"I think the biggest thing was for me, it's just like, I need a break," Clark said. "I'm gonna take some time for myself to enjoy what I want to do, and at times that can be tough in the position I'm in, but I think it was healthiest for myself."

Clark, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, has been playing high-level basketball for nearly a year straight with no breaks. She started training with her collegiate team back in September 2023 and hasn't stopped since, as there was only one month in between her final college game and Fever training camp.

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Clark is shooting 32.7% from 3-point range this season and she specializes in making heavily-guarded, long-range 3-pointers — very different from controlled, timed 3-point shooting from a rack.

"I think just rest," Clark said of why she declined the 3-point contest. "I've been playing basketball for a year straight, and it's not an easy thing to just show up and shoot off a rack. It's not something I've ever done before. That's not something I've had a lot of time to practice. I've been focusing on helping my team win games. So I think just, you know, enjoying this break. I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for me to do that at some point, but at the same time, the field of shooters that we have in the competition are really good. They're all like near 40% shooters, so I'm excited for them."

There are five 3-point contest participants are New York's Jonquel Jones, Connecticut's Marina Mabrey, Minnesota's Kayla McBride, Atlanta's Allisha Gray and Washington's Stefanie Dolson.

Ahead of the All-Star weekend, there wasn't much of a financial incentive to participate in the All-Star skills events, either. The WNBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates winners of the 3-point contest and skills challenge get $2,575 each, while participants get $1,030 each. But Friday, the WNBPA announced that it had partnered with Aflac to give the winners of the contests an extra $55,000 each.

For Clark, though, it's about protecting her peace and getting rest this weekend.

"As a professional athlete at times, like people don't always realize like, I feel like an individual just like all of you," Clark said. "I'm just the same human. I go about my same daily life. I do all the same things that you do. I just play basketball on top of that. So, you know, mental health is super important to taking care of that comes far before playing a basketball game."

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, the only other rookie All-Star, also said she declined an invitation to the skills challenge on Friday afternoon.

"I just want to enjoy my first All-Star and be able to watch everything and enjoy the moment," Reese said. "There's some great shooters in this skills challenge, but I'm just gonna be watching for at least for my first year."

Will Erica Wheeler make it for Skills Challenge?

Fever guard Erica Wheeler is scheduled to be a part of the skills challenge, but she was having some issues getting to Phoenix because of the CrowdStrike outage affecting major airlines. A Fever spokesperson said they're trying to get everything situated, but nothing definite has happened.

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Fever rookie Caitlin Clark isn't participating in 3-point contest