Unrivaled basketball league is in a “full-court press” to recruit Caitlin Clark with a “Lionel Messi-like” offer, Front Office Sports reported on Wednesday morning. The new 3x3 professional basketball league, co-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, is set to tip-off in Miami in January, and has already announced 26 of its 30 participating players. Last week, it also made headlines for announcing a multi-year media rights deal with TNT Sports that could be worth more than $100 million.
Caitlin Clark could receive “Lionel Messi-like” package for Unrivaled participation
The new 3x3 basketball league, co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, is reportedly working overtime to recruit the game’s most popular player, according to Front Office Sports.
Photo by Dylan Goodman/NBAE via Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
As it currently stands, Clark is not one of those slated to play. However, Front Office Sports reported that the league is prepared to offer more than a million dollar salary for just three months of her participation, in addition to equity and revenue sharing. The incentive package could end up being similarly-structured to the one that Inter Miami assembled to recruit Lionel Messi to join in 2023; the club offered him a $150 million contract, part ownership, and a slew of unorthodox benefits and forms of compensation.
Last week, Napheesa Collier spoke glowingly about the impact Caitlin Clark has had on the WNBA.
“It’s just so crazy because the growth that Caitlin has brought to the game — the sheer amount of money she’s making these teams, people are having to move their venues for when she comes to play,” Collier said on Run It Back FDTV. “And she’s getting paid like $75,000 a year... she should be on of the (top-paid) players in the world just for the sheer numbers she’s bringing.”
Clark, meanwhile, has previously stated she plans on taking the summer off, joking she’ll become a professional golfer.
Alex Bazzell, the President of Unrivaled and husband of Collier, told Sports Business Journal the league was preparing Clark a major offer last week.
“Caitlin’s been through more the last year and half, probably mentally and emotionally, than any women’s athlete has been through, as far as anyone can remember,” Bazzell told Sports Business Journal. “So, we’ve haven’t had that firm dialogue or firm offer just yet. But, we are going to make that offer. It’s going to be a historic offer, but we’re giving her time to mentally escape basketball before we sit down and have that conversation.”
Clark is one of a handful of high-profile WNBA players who have not committed to playing this winter. A’ja Wilson, the league MVP, is another — Wilson told reporters last month she was not planning on playing. Sabrina Ionescu also hasn’t shared whether or not she’d participate.
The entire league is innovative in its approach, from its play style to its business structure. Unrivaled will offering inaugural players equity in the league, and 3x3 games will be played on a compressed full-court. The league will be made up of six teams of five players each, and include WNBA coaches. The current list of players includes players from every WNBA team with the exception of the Indiana Fever.
With players set to report to camp in early January, it’s likely that Clark’s highly-anticipated decision will be made in the coming weeks.
