Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, announced the rosters for its six teams on Wednesday. Notably, Caitlin Clark's name was nowhere to be found, despite the league teasing the announcement with a 22-minute pre-taped video. Clark, of course, wears No. 22 for the Indiana Fever.
Clark's status for Unrivaled has been one of the biggest storylines of the offseason. Now, we finally have an answer. The 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year will not play in Unrivaled this season, according to Michael Voepel.
Initially, Unrivaled stated that it would feature "30 of the top professional players in women's basketball." However, Collier announced on Oct. 31 that the league had "outperformed" its "financial expectations" and would expand to 36 players for the inaugural season. A full list of those 36 players was expected by Wednesday, but only 34 names were seen. As it stands, there are two open spots, and two teams have a "Wildcard" placeholder on their roster.
Based on all reporting, and plain common sense, it seems as though one of those spots was being held for Clark. It remains to be seen who the league will choose now that she has turned them down.
During the Fever's final playoff game last season, ESPN's Ryan Ruocco said, "We talked to Caitlin Clark earlier today. She said she almost definitely will not play basketball this offseason. So it is likely we will not see her play again until April."
When Clark was asked about her plans following that defeat to the Connecticut Sun, she joked about taking her talents to the golf course -- something she did earlier this month when she played in the pro-am at The Annika.
"I was focused on beating the Connecticut Sun, I haven't thought too far down the line," Clark said. "I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow, I don't know what I'm going to do the next day. Maybe play some golf. That's what I'm going to do until it becomes too cold in Indiana. I'll become a professional golfer."
While every indication had been that Clark needed a break from basketball after completing a full NCAA season and full WNBA season in less than 12 months, Unrivaled had gone all out to try and convince her to join. Front Court Sports reported in October that the league was planning a "full-court press" to recruit her and was prepared to offer a salary north of $1 million for the eight-week season. (Clark's WNBA salary this season was $76,535.)
Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, who is married to Collier, later told Sportico, "we're always going to have a roster spot for Caitlin Clark," but pushed back on how their chase of Clark was being described.
"We're not applying a full-court press the way people think," Bazzell said. "We are letting her decompress from basketball. She knows that we have a spot for her when she's ready." He added that the league is "proud of what we've built, and we're in a position to succeed. But if she played, she would take it to another level. She knows we would love to have her."
Clark is one of the most marketable athletes in the world, regardless of sport or gender. WNBA attendance, TV viewership and merchandise sales all skyrocketed due to Clark's arrival. Perhaps most notably, CBS, ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2, ION and NBA TV all set records for the most-watched WNBA regular-season game on their respective platforms during the 2024 season, and all of those games involved Clark.
Unrivaled has a media rights partnership with TNT Sports that will see more than 45 primetime regular-season games broadcast on TNT and truTV, as well as its own merch, arena and social media channels, all of which would have received the Clark stimulus package if she joined. That's why the league was so eager to get her signature and had been holding open a roster spot even though opening night is less than two months away.
Now, Unrivaled will have to forge ahead without her.