Sabrina Ionescu Parents and Family: Who Are Dan Ionescu and Liliana Blaj?

Having his American Dream realized, no one knew besides Dan Ionescu that his daughter Sabrina would become one of the biggest names in the WNBA. As a caring father, Dan has been nothing short of a living motivation to Sabrina, pushing her to become better every day. Indeed, her journey through the professional stage has been imbibed with her Romanian roots along the way. More so, Dan helps her to channel that strength, confidence, and aggression to make her mark on the court.

Just like hers, Dan and Liliana too have an interesting story to tell, one that can keep one’s culture alive while not giving up on their hopes to live a better life with their loved ones. Let’s explore.

Meet Dan Ionescu and Liliana Blaj

It was the 1989 Christmas Revolution in communist Romania when Dan Ionescu escaped his homeland to take political shelter in the U.S. At the time, he had to leave his wife, Liliana, and son Andrei to join him a few months later.

However, they couldn’t make it just then. Rather, the opportunity came after 6 years in 1995, when Liliana and Andrei set foot on U.S. soil. Two years later, Liliana gave birth to twins at a gap of 18 minutes, Sabrina and Edward in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California.

Meanwhile, Dan had settled down in North Carolina amongst his extended family members. In 2019, Dan was driving Luka Dukich, the Chicago Bulls, and the Chicago White Sox, then Director of Content. At the time, Dan was running a taxicab job. While driving, the two got talking about being Eastern European immigrants and basketball.

In the conversation, Dan started speaking highly of the 22-year-old Sabrina to Luka, further expressing that she was soon to become a pro. On learning about Sabrina, Luka responded, “She must be good!” Just then, Dan replied, “No, She is not good. She is the best.”

Later on, he realized his American Dream by shifting from a taxicab job to owning a limousine service company called Premier Transportation. Today, it has been more than 3 decades since Dan started providing transportation services to corporate clients and private parties that include airport transportation, wine tours, and corporate functions.

Besides growing his business, Dan also played a major role in developing Sabrina’s and Edward’s balling skills.

How did Dan Ionescu mold the twins?

Being the father of a first-generation athlete, Dan knew nothing about basketball. However, the sport was the perfect outlet for Sabrina’s aggression, confidence, and competitiveness, traits that come from her Romanian roots.

So, to channel all that energy, Dan Ionescu worked Sabrina and Edward into a competition, with one desperate purpose – ‘to exhaust the two and get them a peaceful night of sleep’ – as he put it, “When you have twins and they’re young, all you want is them to get tired.”

He found the solution at Larkey Park, which happened to be tennis and basketball courts and a sand volleyball pit. But they missed a soccer field there. Had it been there a soccer field, Dan would have surely pushed the twins into the game as well.

Eventually, Sabrina and Edward grew closer to basketball, with Larkey Park being their ultimate place to be. The two would team up and take down grown men in a quest for the ultimate spoil. “Some guys would be like, ‘If you beat us, we’ll get you guys a Slurpee,’ because there was a 7-Eleven right down the street. We’d beat them in H-O-R-S-E, or two-on-two, three-on-three, and they’d just go and get us a Slurpee and come back,” said Edward.

Individually, it was much more for Sabrina than just beating grown-up men for a cooler, as Dan put it, “The very first instinct for Sabrina was to be accepted by the boys. She wanted to be with the boys and always driven by that.”

Her competitive edge was on display in 2013 when, despite not being invited to the USA Basketball’s U16 tryouts in Colorado Springs, she went and was one of the two non-invitees to get selected, and the rest is history.

Native to Romania, the Ionescu family stayed connected with their roots. They didn’t want to lose their language but rather used it to their advantage. Whenever the twins played, Dan would shout his thoughts in their native language from the stands. Then Edwards would tell him to settle down.

While now Dan might tease that Sabrina Ionescu is not all that at times, he knows what she has done is nothing short of amazing.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger