The new Unrivaled women’s basketball league is reportedly trying to sign Caitlin Clark.
According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, organizers of the 3-on-3 league have set their sights on the Fever superstar after landing a TV deal with TNT Sports to air 45 regular-season games starting in January.
The report noted that the league, which was co-founded of by WNBA superstars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, has been “playing the long game” with Clark and didn’t want to rush its approach in recruiting the Iowa alum after her historic WNBA rookie campaign.
Instead, it wanted to give Clark “time to recover and golf” in her offseason. But with a TV contract secured, it plans to approach Clark “sometime in the next several weeks,” the report added.
Unlike a lot of players who play overseas to supplement their WNBA wages, Clark has a solid financial situation. She has a lucrative contract worth $28M over eight years with Nike, besides scores of endorsement deals that carried over from her NIL deals in college. Unrivaled was formed to give better salaries to female hoopers.
Unrivaled organizers are reportedly optimistic about recruiting Clark.
“Unrivaled is hoping the lure of a financial stake, and the challenge of hooping against the world’s top 30 players, will be enough to tempt the phenomenon, who can otherwise spend her offseasons training, playing golf, and shooting commercials for her growing list of corporate sponsors that also includes Gatorade and State Farm,” wrote McCarthy.
“Get ready for the full-court press,” one source told FOS of Unrivaled’s attempts to recruit Clark.
Co-founder Collier, currently in the middle of a grueling WNBA Finals, made several media appearances Thursday to promote the Unrivaled league. When asked about her desire to recruit Clark, she explained why the Fever guard’s $75K-per-year WNBA salary was one of the reasons she and Stewart formed the Unrivaled league.
