Caitlin Clark has been a lightning rod since she entered the WNBA. She’s broken the minds of opponents and media members for years now.
Fellow WNBA players like DiJonai Carrington have claimed her fans are racist. ESPN’s Monica McNutt has claimed her white skin is why fans are flocking to fill NBA arenas to watch her play. ESPN shockingly ranked Caitlin Clark the sixth-best rookie early in her rookie season. Even an anonymous media member decided to ruin Clark’s bid for a unanimous rookie of the year award, giving Angel Reese her solo first-place vote. Clark is no stranger to disrespect in rankings, awards, play and coverage over the years.
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On Friday, this was no different. Kevin Durant’s sports media and entertainment company, Boardroom, came out with their ranking of “The Most Marketable WNBA Players Entering This Season.” Caitlin Clark should be first, right? Nope. She’s third behind reigning MVP A’ja Wilson and Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers. Angel Reese is fourth on the list.
If we’re being honest, Caitlin Clark is EASILY the most marketable WNBA player. That’s a given by any metric. So either Boardroom is being contrarian for clicks, or they’re trolling us. According to Covers’ new “WNBA Marketability Index 2026″ from a few days ago, Clark tops the league with a score of 83 out of 100, while Reese came in second at 80. How can Boardroom be so drastically different unless there is some sort of agenda here?
CAITLIN CLARK TOPS WNBA MARKETABILITY RANKINGS WITH ANGEL REESE CLOSE BEHIND IN NEW STUDY
I mean, come on. Every single Indiana Fever game is on national TV this season. All 44. Why? Caitlin Clark. A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, and Paige Beuckers aren’t drawing close to that kind of interest from sports fans. The WNBA and it’s media partners know Clark’s marketability is off the charts.
The main reason the WNBA is talked about at all nowadays, and has any chance at profitability, is Caitlin Clark. She’s the golden ticket. She’s the reason the WNBA Players Association was able to force the league to pay them more money. She’s the reason teams started flying private two seasons ago. She forces teams to move to NBA arenas and sells them out.
A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese have both come out with signature shoes. Neither of them had more buzz than Caitlin Clark’s Nike Kobe crossover. It took only about a minute for her Kobe 5 Protro Rookie of the Year shoes to sell out. Most were going for well over $350 on the secondary market, with one pair even costing $642.
Caitlin Clark’s sports cards sell for exponentially more too. For example, Caitlin Clark’s 1 of 1 rookie Flawless WNBA logowoman card sold for a whopping $660,000, while Angel Reese’s highest sports card sale, her 1 of 1 rookie Immaculate WNBA logowoman, sold for less than 5% of Clark’s ($30,000).
Caitlin Clark is the Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan of the WNBA. She’s a transcendent star, who will go down as potentially the most impactful and influential female sports star in American sports. She’s that popular. She moves the needle that much.
If we wanted to have a conversation about who is a better player between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, we can have that conversation. Both are rookie of the year award winners. Both had impressive college careers, though Bueckers’ was derailed by injury. Paige Bueckers may be on countless commercials ranging from Gatorade to Carmax, but acting as if she is more marketable than Clark, is laughable.
I don’t know what metrics Boardroom was pulling from as they compiled this list, but it’s getting lambasted online, rightfully so. This is par for the course for the media, though. Reese was put on the cover of the NBA 2K26: WNBA Edition over Clark. Reese and Wilson were on the cover of the Wall Street Journal over Clark after she won Rookie of the Year.
The Indiana Fever and Clark tip off their season at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against the Dallas Wings and their star Paige Bueckers, alongside the No. 1 pick of the 2026 WNBA Draft, Azzi Fudd.
