Shannon Sharpe and his running mate Chad Johnson recently took to their daily, late-night show, ‘Night Cap’ to discuss the recently held WNBA draft. The NFL duo acknowledged the 1st overall draft pick, Caitlin Clark, calling the selection made by the Indiana Fever a “no-brainer”.
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Sharpe looked at Indiana’s drafting of Clark as a good business decision and analyzed her impact on the future of the WNBA, in terms of popularity, “Her impact on the game is already being felt because 36 of her games will be nationally televised. Never in the history of the WNBA has that happened before, that is impact.”
The analyst also added that she will bring much-needed attention to women’s sports, which would give “these young women” something to look forward to,
“It seems like advertisers and sponsors are starting to get behind these women… I think Caitlin Clark is gon be at the forefront of that”.
Further, the duo’s attention shifted to another NCAA star, Angel Reese. The 2022-23 NCAA Champion was selected 7th overall by the Chicago Sky. The LSU star would have definitely expected a higher selection on the draft board, with even Johnson pointing out the same,
“Honesty, I thought Ms Reese would have gone earlier…but those that went before her, all fit very well, they are what their team needs…what I really like is Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese going to the same team.”
The Chicago Sky will benefit from the likes of Cardoso and Reese, as the team faced an early exit last year at the hands of the Sparks. Reese’s selection to the Sky involved a lot of behind-the-scenes decisions, as the Chicago side traded up their 8th pick to acquire the 7th pick, giving up Sika Koné, Chicago’s 2025 second-round pick, and the rights to swap Chicago’s 2026 first-round pick.
Chad Johnson is more excited for the WNBA season
The WNBA has been getting a little heated over the last few weeks in anticipation of this year’s draft. The incumbent batch of WNBA players has made quite the stir, as Clark and her class are coming off an excellent performance at this year’s March Madness. In fact, Clark and Iowa even broke NCAA streaming numbers this year, with many suggesting that the women’s game will soon become more popular on the collegiate level than the men’s.
Even Chad Johnson seemed to agree with this line of argument, “I am excited, I am a little bit more excited to watch the WNBA as opposed to the NBA. I haven’t really watched the NBA all season…but I am more goddamn excited to watch the WNBA.”
This season of the WNBA, tipping off less than a month from today, will surely be special. As Sharpe expressed, Clark, Cameron Brink, and Reese will surely be at the forefront of the media’s attention, as these NCAA legends look to make a mark at the next level of their sport.
