There's Growing Push For Caitlin Clark To Leave The WNBA
There's Growing Push For Caitlin Clark To Leave The WNBA originally appeared on The Spun.
There's a growing push for Caitlin Clark to "leave" the WNBA following Tuesday night's incident.
Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, was involved in a bit of a brawl on Tuesday night. During the third quarter of the Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun game, Clark was hit in the eye by Jacy Sheldon, her former Big Ten rival. Clark was then decked to the ground by Connecticut's Marina Mabrey.
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The Fever were leading the game, 54-45, at the time of the incident. They went on to win, 87-71.
Clark, Mabrey and Tina Charles were each assessed technical fouls for the incident on Tuesday. Sheldon was assessed a flagrant 1 foul for the play.
No players were ejected.
This is the latest in a string of physical incidents that have involved Clark. While Clark might not be getting "targeted" in a dangerous sense, it's clear that opposing players are being very physical with her. She just returned from a two-week injury.
Clark, who has become arguably the most popular player in the WNBA, is fully committed to the league - and women's basketball in general.
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But there is a growing push for her to leave the league, with fans claiming that other WNBA players or the league as a whole don't appreciate her enough.
"Caitlin Clark needs to leave the WNBA as soon as she can. The league is actively trying to injure her. Their hatred for her is incredibly obvious. This is insane. She is bigger than the league," one fan wrote.
"I'm starting to think Caitlin Clark should just leave the WNBA and start her own new pro league. May sound crazy. But if I could buy stock in Caitlin or the rest of the WNBA without her, I'm buying Caitlin Clark stock over the entire WNBA combined without her," one fan added.
"Caitlin Clark should leave the WNBA. She could do much better for herself," one fan added.
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"Caitlin Clark should leave the league. Join whatever other league there is out there and say (expletive) you to the WNBA. No one cares about this league. They only tune in to watch Clark and they will do they where she plays," one fan added.
Caitlin Clark and her teammates.© Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Clark, who is making less than $80,000 in WNBA salary, is earning millions more in endorsements. She was reportedly offered $5 million to play in Ice Cube's Big3 League, though she turned that down.
While Clark could theoretically make more money in salary by joining a league, in the long run, she's almost surely better off by sticking in the WNBA.
As long as she doesn't get too hurt, that is...
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There's Growing Push For Caitlin Clark To Leave The WNBA first appeared on The Spun on Jun 18, 2025
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
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