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The WNBA might be the hardest league in all of sports to get into, with just 144 spots and a talent pool that is getting bigger. It will be a whole different ballgame for Caitlin Clark’s rookie class.
The excitement surrounding Caitlin Clark, the once-in-a-generation talent from the American heartland, has only intensified since the Indiana Fever selected her with the first overall pick in last month’s WNBA draft.
In recent months, the 22-year-old from West Des Moines has attracted millions of new fans to the women’s game and created an unparalleled sense of excitement as the league’s 28th season begins on Tuesday night. Earlier this year, she broke Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record to become the all-time leading scorer in major college basketball history.
There are clues about the alleged “Caitlin Clark Effect” everywhere you look. Within an hour of her draft selection, the league’s official store had sold out of her replica No. 22 jersey. Sales of WNBA tickets on StubHub were reported to be 93% higher than those of the previous season. After the renowned Las Vegas Aces did the same in March, the Dallas Wings and Atlanta Dream announced last week that they had sold out of their season ticket packages. A fan’s smartphone video from the stands of a preseason game on Friday that included the debuts of Chicago’s Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso was unsuccessful in getting broadcast on the WNBA’s streaming app. Despite this, the fan’s livestream has received over 2.5 million views in the days that have passed.
Not to mention her past lucrative deals with brands like Gatorade, State Farm, Xfinity, and Panini, Clark’s newly signed $28 million endorsement agreement with Nike is no little comfort for all of the justified hand wringing over her meagre $76,000 rookie pay.
Indeed, these are heady times. However, the honeymoon will end quickly. Nobody appears to know that better than Clark herself when Indiana plays their season opener against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. that’s going to be a whole different ballgame for Clark.
“The WNBA is very competitive right now,” Clark declared in Brooklyn last month following Indiana’s announcement that she was the number one choice, thereby confirming America’s worst-kept secret. “There will be competition every time you set foot on the floor. I believe there is a tonne of quality on so many teams. The world’s most competitive league is this one. fewer than 144 places.
It’s true that a smaller league equals a higher concentration of talent, with nearly every team having a roster full of exceptional players. The WNBA is now made up of 12 teams with a maximum of 12 players per, while the NBA is made up of 30 teams with up to 15 players allowed on a regular-season roster. Many clubs aren’t even fielding the maximum because of strict wage cap constraints. There isn’t a developmental circuit where players who don’t make the cut may go back and improve their skills, at least not in the country, unlike the NBA’s G League. Opportunities do exist overseas, but many of them are grabbed by WNBA players who are already well-established and looking to boost their pay over the offseason. The conflict in Ukraine and Brittney Griner’s nine-month prison sentence have made things more difficult because not many foreign leagues paid as much as Russia did.
