The Big 3 league attempted to capitalize on Caitlin Clark’s popularity this spring by offering her a whopping $5 million to play in the 3-on-3 basketball league this summer. While Clark declined to focus on her WNBA career and a possible appearance with the United States national team in Paris, league president Jeff Kwatinetz disclosed in an essay that the Big Three’s offer to Clark was significantly larger than previously reported.
According to Kwatinetz, the Big 3 offered Clark a two-year, $10 million contract, a percentage of team ownership, half of all merch earnings for anything using her name or picture, and a seven-figure advance plus ownership in a documentary about her time in the league. The league also guaranteed that the renowned Nancy Lieberman would instruct her.
Kwatinetz’s essay also contains other absurd assertions (such that males in Clark’s camp withheld the offer from her in order to prop up “the NBA mob”) and factual errors (he skips Jeanie Buss’ ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to imply there are no female NBA owners). However, the terms of the league’s offer to Clark are extensive.
Kwatinetz predicts a $15 million total price for playing in the Big 3’s ten-game season, which will air on CBS this summer.
Instead, Clark is using a more traditional approach. She will play for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA and is a candidate to make the U.S. women’s national basketball team squad in Paris this summer. She recently agreed to a reported eight-year, $28 million agreement with Nike. While the Big 3 offer would not have barred her from playing in the WNBA, it would most likely have banned her from competing in the Olympics.
Clark may now pursue a professional career on her own terms, with apparently no limit to the attention and investment she can generate for herself, the Fever, or the WNBA.
Leave a Reply