Law Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson says that race plays a large part in all the hoopla over Caitlin Clark joining the WNBA.
As a member of Iowa’s women’s basketball team, Clark set a long list of records and helped college basketball become one of the most-watched sports on television in her final year. But now that she is headed to the WNBA and the Indiana Fever, her college fame brings great expectations and many new eyes to the women’s pro basketball league.
Despite all of Clark’s achievements to date, Wilson is sure that Clark’s popularity is because of racism.
“I think it’s a huge thing,” Wilson said of the racism buoying Clark’s success, according to the Associated Press. “I think a lot of people may say it’s not about Black and White, but to me, it is. It really is because you can be top-notch at what you are as a Black woman, but yet maybe that’s something that people don’t want to see.
“They don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work,” she exclaimed. “It doesn’t matter what we all do as Black women, we’re still going to be swept underneath the rug. That’s why it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”
A’ja Wilson #22 of the Las Vegas Aces looks on during the game against the Puerto Rico National Team during the WNBA Preseason Game on May 11, 2024, at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. (Travis Bell/NBAE via Getty Images)
Clark’s $28 million deal with Nike sparked many to accuse the shoemaker of being racist for giving a WNBA rookie a shoe deal.
Lefty sports columnist Mike Freeman, for instance, took to the pages of USA Today in April to complain that Clark got a shoe deal after she ended her college basketball career and headed into the WNBA when, in his opinion, there were several black players who deserved a deal but hadn’t been handed one, and Wilson was one player he cited.
On Saturday, Wilson announced that she was getting a Nike shoe deal of her own this season. And she also signed a big deal with Gatorade.
However, as Fox Sports points out, going into her first WNBA season, Clark had another big advantage over Wilson — and it has nothing to do with racism.
Caitlin Clark, #22 of the Indiana Fever, shoots a free throw against the Atlanta Dream during the WNBA preseason game on May 9, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Clark’s basketball career coincided with the move to allow college players to engage in name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. So, Clark already had contact with advertisers and companies before she even signed her first WNBA contract.
This is an advantage Clark’s chief college rival, Angel Reese, also enjoyed, as did LSU player Flau’jae Johnson, neither of whom is white and both of whom have big endorsement deals as they head into the WNBA from college.
So far, Clark has wisely avoided commenting on the crude accusations that she has been successful merely because she is white.
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