WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark won’t play for the new women’s basketball league, Unrivaled, a source tells ESPN.
The source said the Indiana Fever star guard rejected a $1 million offer to join the new 3-on-3 women’s basketball league. The $1 million offer is significantly more than her salary as a WNBA rookie.
The new 3-on-3 league was co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
Unrivaled announced the rosters and coaches for its 6 teams during a 22-minute YouTube live-stream on Wednesday.
All Unrivaled games will be played in Miami, starting on January 17, 2025.
Unrivaled players will reportedly receive salaries of $250,000 – the highest in women’s sports history. All of the players will also receive equity in the league.
Pre-season tickets sold out on Wednesday. Fans speculated that Unrivaled was trying to entice Clark to join by signing her Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull and Clark’s close friend and former Iowa teammate Kate Martin. But Clark’s fans took to social media in droves to discourage her from joining the new league.
Clark’s fans cite the rude welcome she received from WNBA players during her record-breaking rookie season.
Players repeatedly dismissed Clark’s influence on the WNBA’s surging growth in 2024. They claimed other rookies were equally responsible for the league’s increased TV viewership and ticket sales.
The WNBA refused to suspend players who intentionally committed hard fouls on Clark. Players routinely targeted the 22-year-old superstar for abuse.
When Clark’s vocal fan base defended her online, some players accused them of being racist “White supremacists.”
But the final insult came when Clark was deprived of becoming the WNBA’s fifth-ever unanimous Rookie of the Year after her outstanding season. Although Clark easily won the Rookie of the Year award, she was one vote shy of being the unanimous winner.
Clark received 66 of 67 votes from a panel of national reporters and sports writers. The reporter who cast the lone vote for Chicago Sky star Angel Reese never revealed their identity.
Aliyah Boston, Tina Charles, Elena Delle Don and A’ja Wilson are the only players ever to win the award unanimously.
