The Indiana Fever held their exit interviews earlier today after their elimination from the WNBA Playoffs in Game 5 on Tuesday night. Obviously, the hot topic of the league continues to be the Napheesa Collier statement on the WNBA leadership and commissioner, Cathy Engelbert. Caitlin Clark was asked about it today during her exit interview and had this to say. “First of all, I have a lot of great respect for Phee, and I think she made a lot of very valid points, and I think what people need to understand, we need great leadership in this time across all levels. This is straight up the most important moment in this league’s history, where this league’s been around for 25 plus years, and this is a moment we have to capitalize on. So that’s honestly what I would say. I think Phee said it all with what she said and I think the points she made were very valid.“
When Caitlin was asked if she had heard the comment previously before it went public about what Engelbert said about her with the comment of “Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.”, Caitlin said she had not previously heard the story. She was also asked if she had heard from Engelbert since this went public and Caitlin said no.
She was asked more about the comment and how she took it especially with how she had built her brand in college. Caitlin responded: “I think that’s probably the way in which the league has changed over the course of the last few years. These kids and what they’re making in college these days is pretty insane. It’s honestly probably more than what I made. Obviously, a lot has changed even since I’ve graduated, so I’m not 100% up to date on the exact night numbers of what college kids are making, but, you know, obviously, I was very fortunate after my freshman year of college. That’s when I began working with different brands and began working with Nike and everybody knows my first NIL deal was with Hy-Vee, the greatest grocery chain of all time, based in Des Moines, Iowa baby. so, best chocolate long runs around, but I think that’s the way in which young women are coming into this league now with that type of, I don’t even want to say it’s money, but they’re beginning to build their brands in college and then they’re bringing that to the WNBA. So I think that’s just a way in which the league has changed and will continue to evolve. And like, back to my main point, like I said, we are in the biggest moment in WNBA history. There’s no denying that everybody knows that, and everybody that’s in a place in power has a true responsibility, and even myself, we have a responsibility to make sure that this game is in a great place going forward with the CBA and caring for our players and building this league to make sure it’s in a great spot for many years to come because you all know I grew up as a huge fan of this league and I’m going to do everything I can to make this the league that a five year old, a ten year old, a fifteen year old, a girl in college is really proud of to come into, and to be able to put a WNBA uniform on and that’s what they dream of and then hopefully they can accomplish that goal because that’s exactly who I was, and that’s really at the end of the day, like, I hope that’s what my legacy can be, is just how I impacted people to be able to maybe want to be in the WNBA but to really just achieve whatever they want to achieve.”
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