Caitlin Clark made headlines yesterday after her team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, edged out the LSU Tigers at Times Union Center in a rematch of last year’s NCAAW Finals. Clark and the Hawkeyes will face Paige Bueckers’ UConn Huskies next in what promises to be a historic Final Four clash in the Women’s tournament. Amid her heroics on the March Madness stage, Clark recently made headlines for a completely different reason, after rumors suggested that popular rapper Ice Cube’s pro-league Big 3 has offered her a massive $5 million contract for off-season participation.
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After Clark made it clear that she wants to solely focus on the National Championship right now, Big 3 league’s co-founder Ice Cube appeared on the All the Smoke podcast to address the leaked reports regarding the offer. The 54-year-old admitted that they had really extended an offer to Clark, even though they have not yet received a response from her. Cube further revealed that the offer was mostly a result of the enthusiasm shown by the league’s sponsors regarding Clark’s growing popularity in the basketball world.
“With us it’s kind of like an NIL situation. Our sponsors are clamoring, they’d love for her to join the league. And if she joins the league, they’d support the league even more. And it’s a thing were, we believe the money is there if she decides to join the league...,” Ice Cube told the All the Smoke crew.
He also stated that he doesn’t want to go into the details of the contract before Clark responds to the offer. However, the league is certainly prepared to compensate the Iowa star if she agrees to join the competition.
Cube also stressed how big of an opportunity this is for Clark. $5 million is really a big surge from the WNBA salary Clark will receive, considering the highest salary in the league is around $250k/year. However, Clark is no stranger to big money. Her current NIL evaluation is $3.1 million, per On3. Even if her WNBA salary is less than $250k/year, she will certainly make up for that in endorsement deals with different brands.
Will Clark join the Big 3?
Clark’s Big 3 offer has prompted a lot of speculation, which also included criticism from other WNBA players. However, there’s no denying that it’s a decent offer for the 22-year-old prior to joining the WNBA. Clark will feature in the upcoming WNBA Draft, where she is projected to be picked #1 overall by the Indiana Fever.
However, the Big 3 league is a lot more physical than the WNBA. Even Ice Cube admitted during his appearance on All the Smoke, that his league promotes a tough, competitive brand of basketball, where certain moves ‘illegal’ in the WNBA are allowed, like hand-checking. Therefore, playing there wouldn’t be a walk in the park for Clark.
However, it still could be a better option than going overseas for lesser contracts. It will all depend on how Clark manages to sustain her growing stardom. But the best she can do for her brand right now is focus on winning the National Championship this year, which has been her priority all season long.
