WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has praised Caitlin Clark despite receiving backlash as a result of the point guard’s appeal for higher pay.
During the league’s All-Star game last month, players – including Clark, who did not feature on court due to injury – wore pre-game warm-up shirts that read: ‘Pay us what you owe us’, in protest of the current salary situation.
Since the event, the conversation has continued with several players speaking out.
Chicago Sky star Angel Reese slammed the league’s meeting with the players, saying: “Obviously, women’s basketball is skyrocketing. And it’s important for us to get what we want now, not just now, but for the future as well.
“It was an eye-opener for me … hearing the language of things, not things that I was happy to hear.
“It was disrespectful… the proposal that we were sent back.”
Hillary Clinton has also backed the players in their pay dispute.
But although she has faced backlash as a result of the saga, Engelbert has praised star player Clark for doing positive work for the league.
The WNBA chief told the Daily Mail: “Caitlin’s such a great player and a great person.
“We’re so thrilled to have her, and she’s been such a great representative of the league.”
However, Engelbert insisted the WNBA cannot grow solely based on the popularity of Clark.
She continued: “It’s great that everybody’s talking [about the WNBA].[Caitlin] is really thoughtful, not just about her game, but also about growing women’s basketball and growing the WNBA fandom.
“No league ever made themselves on one player, even in the [Larry] Bird-Magic [Johnson] era, the Michael Jordan era, the Kobe [Bryant]-Shaq [O’Neal] era.
“You have to build your league and market around all of your players and your stars. And we’ve built household names. You can never build it around one.”
The WNBA chief is now hoping to build on the success and make the league global.
She concluded: “We’re now a big domestic brand. And then we have admired what the NBA has done over many years with bringing their players [from] and building fandom in Europe, Middle East Asia and longer term Africa.
“This year… it’s about sustaining the tens of millions of new fans we brought into the league last year, but gain on that, too.
“I can’t stress enough: the quality of the product on the court is so important. And we’re so fortunate to have the best players in the world.”