Caitlin Clark offered 'historic' $5m deal to play in Ice Cube's BIG3 league

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The Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has a $5m offer on the table to join the BIG3 3-on-3 basketball league.

"We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship," Ice Cube, a Big3 founder, posted to X on Wednesday. "But I won't deny what's now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn't we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3."

The BIG3 recently announced that the seventh season of the league - an all-male circuit to this point - will tip off on 15 June.

Clark, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I history (men and women), is the likely No 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever in next month's 2024 WNBA Draft. WNBA rookie salaries for lottery draft picks (picks one to four) in 2024 are $77,000 and climb to $98,00 in a player's fourth season. Clark has made $3.5m through NIL deals in her college career and will continue to draw significant sponsorship money when she turns pro.

In a series of follow-up posts, Ice Cube said Clark has a chance to be a trailblazer for women in sports and still go to the WNBA.

"The skeptics laughed when we made Nancy Lieberman the first female coach of a men's pro team, and she won the championship in her first year. Then Lisa Leslie won it all in year two. With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes.

"America's women athletes should not be forced to spend their off seasons playing in often dismal and dubious foreign countries just to make ends meet. And they should have more than just one professional option in the US at a time when American pro sports leagues are being infiltrated by autocratic, anti-women regimes such as Qatar. Our pathbreaking offer to Caitlin Clark demonstrates that BIG3 now offers another choice for athletes."

Ice Cube's comments come after Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. The US star is one of the world's best players, but found herself in the middle of a high-profile prisoner exchange in 2022 while playing in Russian Women's Basketball Premier League. Other WNBA stars have subsequently turned down opportunities to play overseas in the WNBA offseason.

It is unclear whether Clark would eligible to play in the BIG3 league alongside playing in the WNBA. Beginning in 2023, there will be new WNBA prioritization rules that will limit the ability for players to play overseas.

Clark has set numerous records this season as a senior for the Hawkeyes and has driven interest in women's basketball to unprecedented levels with her deep three-pointers and ball-handling skills.

"She's out there playing like Steph Curry and shooting the ball from wherever on the court," the former NBA point guard and WNBA coach Muggsy Bogues told the Guardian earlier this month.

Soon after Clark announced her plans to enter the WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever's ticket offices were swamped with requests for tickets. "We've seen a lot of enthusiasm online and on social media," Pacers Sports and Entertainment said in a statement to the Associated Press. "The organization has also seen the enthusiasm lead to a spike in ticket inquiries."

"It's Clarkonomics," the basketball analyst Debbie Antonelli said. "Her ability to move the meter and the excitement around her is incredible. The socially acceptable thing to do is to watch Caitlin Clark play basketball."

Clark and the top-seeded Hawkeyes (31-4) return to action at the Women's NCAA Tournament on Saturday against No 5 Colorado in a Sweet 16 contest in Albany, New York.