The WNBA CAN'T COME CLOSE to paying Caitlin Clark her worth! - Michael Wilbon | PTI

Pardon The Interruption's Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon wish Iowa Hawkeyes phenom basketball player Caitlin Clark a happy 22nd birthday while discussing her situation with NIL deals at Iowa.

[IconSince]

Can’t believe this show is still on with Tony and Mike and hasn’t changed one bit. I was a teenager when I first saw this show.

[SakirMorsy]

She's a lethal shooter. Shout out to her.

[GiganticSky]

For those thinking she’ll make just as much/more. She likely won’t. NCAAB has more visibility & fan engagement than the WNBA. The wnba doesn’t have anything that even comes close to March madness popularity or even women’s ncaa regular season engagement.

So even she keeps the same sponsors it’s not likely they’d pay the same premiums for less visibility.

[Crunchtime]

Wilbon is right. She won’t sniff anything close to this money. I remember Stacey Dales leaving the WNBA in the prime of her career to become a sideline reporter because it paid more than the WNBA. The WNBA is the sports equivalent of the witness relocation program. People always go missing once they enter the WNBA. Diana Taurasi and Britney Griner were both hugely popular as college athletes about the same popularity as Caitlin Clark and then they go pro and you never hear from them again (except for a mishap at Russian customs).

[mitchellwarters]

Why would her endorsements not follow her?

[bradleyjacks]

They do realize she's gonna make that same money from endorsements PLUS a salary when she gets to the WNBA right lol?

[MikeFromBensonhurst]

What exactly is she worth when the WNBA loses money hand over fist .

[LenOliver-yzos]

Yea ok send her to the NBA lets see how far she gets.

[AprilRoxStudios]

WNBA NEEDS to recruit all of the big name players in women’s college basketball if they want to grow their audience and significantly increase players’ salary. Bring in players who audiences want to see. -Angel Reese, Rickea Jackson, Paige Bueckers, Deja Kelly, Janiah Barker, Caitlin Clark, nearly every player on South Carolina’s roster and the list goes on. Imagine the huge viewership increase if the current women’s basketball stars will play in WNBA. Wake up WNBA! You have a golden opportunity to change your trajectory.

[justinwalker]

Yes they can! they can’t even afford to play every season because all the women they said will watch still haven’t figured out that there is a WNBA 😂 because there’s so many different things women want in life that there’s only so much time in the day and so many days in a year. And that’s the biggest problem, attention deficit syndrome at its best.
Plus, in most businesses, and most situations they would like Men to pay for their entire life and take the blame for their failure. But it does not work in business and or building a business.

[CharlieBrown-qdvc]

It's all about viewership. The more people watch, the more network coverage and advertising revenue comes in, and the more an increase in salaries can be demanded. This is where Caitlin Clark is revolutionizing women's basketball. Tickets to home games were sold out before the season even started. She and the Hawkeyes are selling out "opponent" stadiums. I have rarely, if ever, watched a full WNBA game. But I can promise you, when Caitlin goes to the WNBA I won't miss a single game she's playing in. Either will millions of other people. This will wake up both network coverage and the WNBA. I'm a 73 year old man and I feel like an excited teenager watching her play. This is what it takes...and she'll be changing this forever.

[captaincooool]

Yup, stay in college, more money and respect than in the goof league. I seriously don't think Angel Reece for that matter will ever go to the WNBA. She's already celebrity, she'll make more doing something outside a league nobody watches.

[KTS]

This is why the WNBA will forever be boring and terrible

[TheCheckInReport]

The WNBA needs Caitlyn she may be able to lead women into making better pay

[udkocqn]

Even if the WMBA max salary is "just a few hundred thousand" (which is still way more than 95% of Americans make), she will still likely be pulling in a million+ a year in endorsements. For playing basketball. In a league almost nobody watches or cares about. I feel a lot worse for a 50 year old warehouse worker making 50k a year than a 22 year old making over a million dollars a year to shoot hoops.

[bossycowgurl]

As a woman, I have never watched the WNBA & you couldn’t pay me to watch them.

[greyklopstock]

She might be just what the wnba needs to explode even further

[sternshowsucks]

The WNBA needs to fold. The NBA is losing money trying to keep the WNBA alive. Face it nobody cares.

[QuitaLovesSports]

Right now her salary is $0 so she will be making more money when she goes to the WNBA, the NIL deals will follow her

[WBBClips]

It makes no sense to compare NIL deals (which is sponsorships with companies) in college to WNBA salaries with no sponsorships with companies. She’ll still get the sponsorship deals, which may be even higher at the WNBA level. These two seem to be oblivious to what happened with Sabrina Ionescu, the star guard that came before Catlin Clark. Ionescu signed with Nike for a reported $24 million. Clark should be in line for a similar amount. Money won’t be an issue for Clark when she enters the WNBA.