The Great Betrayal: “Fake Concern” Over Caitlin Clark’s Salary BB Exposes WNBA Veterans In the realm of professional sports, the story is crucial. The WNBA’s current narrative is one of sisterhood, with seasoned players voicing their righteous outrage over Caitlin Clark’s startlingly low $80,000 rookie salary. It’s an inspiring tale of camaraderie that depicts well-known figures watching out for the next generation.
There is only one issue. A damning new analysis claims that it is a complete and utter lie. This isn’t merely a miscommunication; it’s being referred to as a “complete deception,” a “calculated act” of “pure theater,” and a way to control the public, rewrite a history of jealousy, and conceal the unsettling reality that the players who are publicly complaining about Clark’s pay are the ones who constructed her cage.
The main, damning charge is that WNBA veterans intentionally and purposefully negotiated the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to benefit themselves at the direct expense of new rookies through their own players’ association. According to reports, they “wanted less money for the rookies and more money for the veterans.” They allegedly added “an extra hundred grand on the max” for themselves during the most recent CBA negotiations, taking funds that could have gone to the rookie pay scale. They created this pay structure rather than merely permitting it to exist. They supported it with their votes. They gave their approval.
The fact that these same players are now turning to the cameras with startled expressions and wringing their hands over the “little of money” Clark is earning is being presented as the height of hypocrisy. It’s a deliberate effort to restore their own reputation after a season of vocal animosity toward the player who is supposedly in charge of generating “hundreds of millions of dollars” in new income for the league. This alleged “performance” is a desperate attempt to control a story that had gotten out of control. And it seems like people are finally realizing this.
A Past of Antagonism Rather Than Sisterhood Rewinding the tape a few months will reveal the startling cynicism of this new “fake concern.” The league did not welcome Caitlin Clark, the greatest offensive phenomenon in college basketball history, when she joined. A target was placed on her back.
The simplest examination dismantles the “sisterhood” narrative. By a wide margin, Clark was the league’s “most flagrantly fouled player.” She was knocked to the ground, hip-checked, and shoulderered in violent outbursts that went well beyond the usual rookie hazing. This was evident contempt rather than merely “welcome to the league” toughness.
Fans who objected, many of whom were new to the sport and attracted to Clark’s generational talent, weren’t simply brushed aside; they were called “racists” for having the audacity to defend their new favorite player. An establishment that appeared to be resentful of the very attention it had been pleading for made the coordinated, defensive crouch.
This hostility was acknowledged in the media and wasn’t limited to the court. One prominent example is WNBA player Lexi Brown, who is now allegedly joining the chorus of people who are “concerned” about Clark’s compensation. Brown previously acknowledged on her own podcast that there was a “level of hostility” from teammates toward Caitlin Clark and the 2024 rookie class in particular.
Commentators question how a player can acknowledge a generalized sense of jealousy and a “unwelcoming vibe” one month, then later express profound, empathetic sadness over the same rookie’s contract. The inconsistency is astounding. Not only is this abrupt “change of tune” unreal, but it also follows a desperate and obvious pattern of “rewriting history” for a public they think isn’t listening.
The Indisputable “Caitlin Clark Effect” They made an effort to ignore The “Caitlin Clark Effect,” a cultural and economic upheaval that has abruptly changed the league’s fortunes, is the cause of this animosity and the hypocritical turn that followed. Additionally, the league’s veterans actively “pushed back” for a long time against the notion that this “rising tide” would actually “lift all boats.”
Charter flights are the most obvious and indisputable evidence. WNBA players have been complaining about the exhausting nature of commercial travel for decades, and with good reason. It served as a focal point for negotiations and a representation of their struggle for respect in the workplace. However, the league maintained for years that it was not feasible from an economic standpoint.
Then Caitlin Clark showed up. Other players immediately and fiercely expressed their “envy and public outcry” when Clark started getting private flights for security. The one rookie star receiving treatment that the veterans had long demanded made for awful optics. The “impossible” suddenly became possible, miraculously.
The league was compelled to introduce leaguewide charter flights practically immediately; it did not negotiate this change in the subsequent CBA. It was a straightforward, frantic response to the drama and attention that Clark’s presence generated. This one incident demonstrates Clark’s enormous, transformative power. Decades of “collective sacrifice” were unable to resolve the problem, but her presence alone did.
The establishment has been “deeply resistant” to acknowledging this reality, which is that a single 22-year-old is the “singular, monumental thing” causing all of this new prosperity. Rather, a deceptive campaign started to “dilute” Clark’s special influence. Veterans and their media allies would frequently lump Clark in with other gifted rookies, such as Guju Watkins, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. Fans were “flocking” to see them all, they said.
However, the data presents a different picture. Paige Bueckers’ games had some of the lowest attendance in her league, according to attendance statistics. Unless Caitlin Clark was in town, Chicago Sky games were “frequently empty.” In order to accommodate the enormous, Clark-driven crowds, those games were relocated to NBA arenas. According to reports, USC games were “empty as hell.”
Now that they are compelled to, everyone eats. The narrative has now undergone yet another “complete flip-flop” following a season of denial, resistance, and downplaying. Veterans are suddenly adopting the “everybody eats” philosophy that they used to mock. Why? because it is impossible to ignore the economic realities. This is a “strategic giving in,” not a change of heart. The new funds and opportunities are real. Because of Clark’s “massive new visibility,” Erica McDonald, a player who “started the season sitting on her couch,” unexpectedly signed a “quarter million dollar contract” with a rival team.
Kelsey Plum is participating in pro-am golf tournaments, promoting Arby’s, and “high-fiving” on Good Morning America. Just a year ago, the majority of WNBA players were “pretty much unheard of” these high-profile, lucrative corporate opportunities. The pie is growing, and nearly all of this is “due to one person.” In an attempt to “steal her story” and establish themselves as the elder stateswomen who always cared, the very players who once objected to her arrival are now embracing the language of unity.
Boardroom x CNBC’s Strategy Plan: July 25, 2023 by Lexie Brown This leads us back to the pay. Outrage is a show. Theater is the issue. It is a tactic being used to deflect criticism, win over the public, and conceal the reality that they created the system and are not its victims. They made the decision to suppress rookie wages in order to increase their own. The WNBA is in a pivotal moment. It has two options: either accept the unsettling, indisputable fact that Caitlin Clark is the force, the catalyst, and the phenomenon influencing its future, or carry on with this “self-defeating charade.” Clark brought millions of new fans to their doorstep, and their intelligence is severely damaged by this “fake posturing” and awkward “rewriting of history.”
Choosing resentment over appreciation and self-serving goals over the player who is currently providing them all with the platform they have always desired is a basic betrayal of the league’s potential. There is no denying the truth, and any attempt to conceal it only serves to expose the hypocrisy that fans will no longer tolerate.
