Caitlin Clark is predicted to be the primary choose within the 2024 WNBA Draft in April, however her largest payday may come from one other professional league.
Ice Dice confirmed on Wednesday, March 27, that his Big3 Basketball League made the Iowa guard a “historic supply” that a number of retailers report back to be price $5 million.
The contract can be for Clark, 22, to play within the league’s eight common season video games this season, plus two playoff video games if her crew qualifies. The Big3 instructed Individuals that the dedication wouldn’t intrude with Clark’s WNBA eligibility, although the 2 seasons’ schedules overlap. The WNBA didn’t reply to inquiries about Clark taking part in in each leagues, however a league spokesperson acknowledged that Clark could make as much as $500,000 in her rookie season, plus thousands and thousands extra in endorsements.
“We supposed the supply to stay non-public whereas Caitlin Clark performs for the championship,” Ice Dice, 54, wrote through X. “However I received’t deny what’s now already on the market: BIG3 made a historic supply to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can obtain great success within the BIG3.”
Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes are gearing as much as compete within the Candy 16 of the ladies’s NCAA Event. They’ll face the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday, March 30. A win would put the Hawkeyes within the Elite Eight, whereas a loss would finish Clark’s historic faculty profession. The senior is already the NCAA’s all-time main scorer and appears to interrupt one other scoring report each time she takes the courtroom.
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The Indiana Fever will virtually definitely take her with the No. 1 total choose within the WNBA Draft, that means she is going to proceed her professional profession this summer season for a Fever crew that received simply 13 video games in 2023.
Ice Dice continued his thread on X, touting the Big3’s historical past of elevating girls in basketball, from Nancy Lieberman to Lisa Leslie.
“The skeptics laughed after we made Nancy Lieberman the primary feminine coach of a males’s professional crew, and he or she received the championship in her first 12 months,” he mentioned. “Then Lisa Leslie received all of it in 12 months two. With our supply, Caitlin Clark could make historical past and break down much more limitations for girls athletes.”
He added that ladies athletes shouldn’t need to spend their offseasons “taking part in in usually dismal and doubtful overseas international locations simply to make ends meet.” It is a reference to what number of WNBA gamers spend their winters, competing in abroad leagues to complement WNBA salaries which have grown however are nonetheless not sufficient for many gamers, significantly these on rookie contracts.
Ice Dice concluded his assertion saying that ladies athletes “ought to have greater than only one skilled possibility within the US at a time when American professional sports activities leagues are being infiltrated by autocratic, anti-women regimes corresponding to Qatar. Our pathbreaking supply to Caitlin Clark demonstrates that BIG3 now provides one other selection for athletes.”
It’s essential to notice that ladies have already got multiple skilled possibility — Athletes Limitless Basketball simply wrapped up its third season, whereas WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier plan to launch a 3-on-3 league known as Unmatched.
Nonetheless, no league has been in a position to supply a wage to match what Big3 plans to supply Clark. The one query is whether or not the Hawkeye hooper will take it.
