Caitlin Clark guard (22) of the Indiana Fever drives on the Chicago Sky forward Isabelle Harrison (20) at the United Center on Jun 23, 2024. Clark is looked at as the savior of the WNBA who struggled before she joined the league (AP News photo)

Caitlin Clark: The Savior of the WNBA

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Historically, the WNBA was an obscure basketball league; it received little media coverage, few people attended its games, and even the Poker championship on ESPN had higher TV ratings; in other words, nobody followed the WNBA. Compared to the NBA, the WNBA was like an “afterthought”. By the way, Australia and China also have similar leagues of lesser caliber; nonetheless, they are professional women’s leagues.

If you are of age, you can remember Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), who brought boxing back from the dark days of obscurity, making professional boxing a huge mainstream sport with multi-million-dollar fights/contracts and television like never before. I am not comparing Caitlin Clark to Muhammad Ali, who became a world figure, an iconic cultural figure who, during his boxing years, was much more recognized worldwide than U.S. presidents.  Ali definitely changed boxing; he was the main promoter. The “Thrilla in Manila” Ali vs Frazier fight in 1975 had a global audience estimated at up to 1 billion.

Before Caitlin Clark played in the WNBA, the average player salary was around $60,000; today, it’s around $600,000. A’.Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces earns $1,400,000, and she is not alone; other players have similar contracts in a league that was once barely mentioned, -if at all- in sports newsrooms across the country. I know because I was there.

Some WNBA teams are owned by high-profile owners, like the Golden State Valkyries, owned by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber (co-owners of the NBA Golden State Warriors), and the Las Vegas Aces, owned by Mark Davis, owner of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, and partial owner Tom Brady. The Aces won the championship last season.

Players’ unions do not build statues for their players; that is left to team management to do for their biggest stars, who are their employees, but a case could be made that a statue would someday be built for Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever because she made this league what it is today.

I know the “Savior” label isn’t popular with existing players, because some veterans feel they aren’t recognized for the work and talent they also brought to the league, and let’s face it, jealousy exists.  But considering where the WNBA was when they were founded in 1996 and where it is today, in my opinion, Caitlin Clark saved this league because it is true, like it or not.

Quote: “Go after things people say you can’t do because more times than not, you can.” -Caitlin Clark

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