Unrivaled, a new professional women’s 3×3 basketball league, has ramped up its pursuit of Caitlin Clark.
Clark has yet to commit to playing in a professional league this offseason, as is typical for WNBA players, and she appears to be enjoying her long overdue break from basketball.
Clark pretty much competed nonstop since Iowa’s first game of the 2023-24 season last November until her WNBA team, the Indiana Fever, was eliminated from the WNBA playoffs in late September.
She had just three weeks off between the NCAA Women’s Final Four and the start of the Fever’s training camp and then another three and a half weeks off for the Paris Olympics break.
With the WNBA offseason now fully underway, Unrivaled is targeting Clark to join the league, which was started by WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, who faced off in this season’s WNBA Finals.
Other WNBA stars playing in Unrivaled’s inaugural season, which starts in January, include Angel Reese and Brittney Griner.
Caitlin Clark’s offseason plans
Following the Fever’s elimination from the playoffs, Clark, the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year, said she had been focused on beating the Connecticut Sun and wasn’t sure what she was doing this offseason, except for golfing.
“Maybe play some golf. I think that’s what I’m going to do until it gets too cold in Indiana. … I’ll become a professional golfer,” she said, per IndyStar’s Chloe Peterson.
Clark is staying true to her word. She’s playing in the pro-am at the LPGA Tour’s The Annika on Nov. 13 with Annika Sorenstam and will be a panelist at the Women’s Leadership Summit the day prior to the pro-am.
“I love golf so the opportunity to play in the Pro-Am for a tournament with a legend like Annika Sorenstam’s name on it is so exciting. … I’m looking forward to seeing all the LPGA players on the driving range, being part of the Women’s Leadership Summit, and, of course, teeing it up in the pro-am with Annika,” Clark said in statement from The Annika.
Unrivaled’s attempts to sign Caitlin Clark
Unrivaled added its 30th player, Aliyah Boston, on Thursday, which was supposed to be its final player. But the league is expanding to 36 roster spots and is saving a spot for Clark, Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell told Sportico in an article published Thursday.
“We’re always going to have a roster spot for Caitlin Clark,” Bazzell said. “We’re not applying a full court press the way people think. We are letting her decompress from basketball. … She knows that we have a spot for her when she’s ready.”
Bazzell, who is married to Collier, told Sportico that Unrivaled is “proud of what we’ve built, and we’re in a position to succeed. But if (Clark) played, she would take it to another level. … She knows we would love to have her.”
Unrivaled also appears to be appealing to Clark with their latest signings.
The last three players to join Unrivaled have been Clark’s former Iowa teammate Kate Martin and her current Fever teammates, Lexie Hull and Boston.
How much would Caitlin Clark make from Unrivaled?
Unrivaled is reportedly prepared to open its checkbook to lure Clark into accepting a roster spot.
The league “is poised to offer Clark everything from a salary possibly exceeding $1 million for less than three months of work, to equity and revenue sharing,” Front Office Sports reported on Oct. 23.
That’s a significant raise from the $76,535 base salary she made as a WNBA rookie this season for just eight weeks of basketball in Miami.
It’s unknown how Clark’s potential salary would compare to that of Unrivaled’s other players.
Unrivaled claims “to offer the highest average salary in professional women’s sports league history” and an equity stake for all athletes competing in this season, but it will not disclose the compensation of its players, an Unrivaled spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
