BIG3 co-founder Ice Cube said Thursday that the league has “moved on” from its $10 million offer for Caitlin Clark to join the three-on-three basketball league.
During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” the rapper and actor shared more interesting details on the deal offered to Clark before she chose to join the WNBA.
“It was two years, $5 million a year,” he said. “And plus, we were going to do cool stuff with merch and there was even talk about a percentage in team ownership.”
Including the percentage of team ownership aspect of the deal, BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz predicted Clark’s total contract value with the league could have reached $15 million “or more.”
Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer while at Iowa, was taken by the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.
Clark, who was held to seven points in the Fever’s 91-84 win over the Dream on Thursday night, has been performing well for the Fever, getting named the WNBA Rookie of the Month for May after averaging 17.6 points per game.
And, along with skill, she brings with her a ton of attention, something the BIG3 was looking to gain.
“We believe her coming into the BIG3 would be such a big deal that all boats would rise and the league would benefit from the attention,” Ice Cube said.
Clark will earn $338,056 over four years with the Fever, which has sparked a conversation surrounding the inequality of female athletes’ salaries.
But where she might lack in salary, she will make up for it with partnerships and brand deals.
Clark signed a $28 million contract with Nike in April that includes a signature shoe.
She also has partnerships with Gatorade, as revealed by a 150-foot banner ahead of her first regular season game in Indiana, and is the first athlete to sign a multi-year partnership with Wilson since Michael Jordan in the 1980s.
So all in all, she likely won’t be missing the extra cash from BIG3.
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