WNBA players Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier, Aliyah Boston talk transformational season
In June of 1984, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson met in the NBA Finals for the first time; the following week, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley were drafted; and the league would never be the same…Forty years later, the WNBA arrives at a similar hingepoint. A rookie class, as good as advertised, has made a seamless transition from college to the pros, blending with established stars. Sports have a knack for bending stats to fit desired narratives, but the W's growth figures astound. TV ratings have spiked 153% from last season—and that's before the playoffs, which began last week… Gradually, then suddenly, this 27-year-old league has become a prominent player in the modern sportscape.
Never mind her slick drives in traffic, the deadeye passes…
…the three-pointers like this.
Caitlin Clark: Hello.
Jon Wertheim: Hey. How are you? Jon.
Caitlin Clark: Caitlin. Nice to meet you.
Jon Wertheim: Good to see you…
A few weeks ago in Indianapolis, we asked Caitlin Clark…
Caitlin Clark: Ask me the hard hitting questions…
…to pinpoint the signature moment of this signature season…and, well we didn't see this coming… but neither did she.
Caitlin Clark: I remember we were in New York and Jonquel Jones set-- a good screen on me, and my-- I actually popped my eardrum, ruptured my eardrum just on a screen.
Jon Wertheim: Your eardrum?
Caitlin Clark: Yeah, it was actually, it was a really good screen by-- by JJ. She's a tremendous player, but I think that just kinda speaks to the physicality of the league. It's just she kinda got me in the right spot.
Jon Wertheim: You smiled when you told that story. Good clean basketball play.
Caitlin Clark: It's a good story. I think it's something that I'll always remember, like, coming into this league.
Jon Wertheim: Triple doubles, tho-- those are all well and good, but it's the eardrum rupture that--
Caitlin Clark: That's probably more memorable, honestly.
Then again, maybe it's fitting…as this is the season the WNBA lowered its shoulder, made its presence felt, and expanded its reach.
These fans came to central Indiana from…Newfoundland, Canada.
Jon Wertheim: And you're here why?
Fan: Just to see the Fever game.
Fan: Caitlin Clark.
Clark—22, in number and in age—just led the Fever to the playoffs…She's unquestionably the league's main attraction ...but not the only one. Another rookie, Angel Reese, made her mark too.
But the real breakthrough star of this WNBA season is…the W itself.
Building off a college season in which—unimaginable just a few years ago—the women's championship game outdrew the men's, W games can draw more eyeballs than NBA games do….League wide, attendance is up 48%.
In Minnesota, Napheesa Collier is this season's Defensive Player of the Year…
She just dropped 80 points in the first two playoff games. Collier was drafted in 2019 and bridges two eras of the WNBA….we asked her about the difference this year.
Jon Wertheim: Home and away, you look into the crowds. What are you seeing?
Napheesa Collier: People, which is what we want. (laugh) It makes the game so, so fun. It's like you're sixth-man when you're at home. And then when you're away, you just can't wait to silence the crowd. And that's, like, the best feeling ever.
Jon Wertheim: You figured out a way to benefit from a full crowd even when it's rooting against you.
Napheesa Collier: Yeah. It's almost more fun (laugh) when you're, like, in a packed arena with the other team. And you hit, like, a big three or a big block or something. And you hear them all go, "Oh." That's-- I love that feeling.
Jon Wertheim: That's every bit as motivating.
Napheesa Collier: It really is.
Silencing crowds? Not an issue when the WNBA debuted in 1997, eight teams paired with eight existing NBA teams. From the jump, franchises came and went—the Houston Comets, won the first four titles…only to fold. But amid the instability, the WNBA was giving a generation of girls aspiration and inspiration…. When Clark was growing up in Iowa, already running circles around the boys, her dad took her to see a WNBA game in Minnesota. She returned home hellbent on adding distance to her jump shot.
Caitlin Clark: Like begging my dad to, like, tear up some grass and pour more concrete so I could have an entire three-point line in my driveway.
Jon Wertheim: Did that really happen? You-- you extended your range--
Caitlin Clark: Oh yeah.
Jon Wertheim: --by dumpin' more concrete?
Caitlin Clark: Yeah. 'cause it was, like, kind of slanted. Our driveway was, like, slanted, so I only had a three-point line on one side of the driveway. So… told my dad he had to tear up all this grass, and he did.
Likewise, her Fever teammate, six-foot-five center Aliyah Boston—last season's Rookie of the Year—had grand ambitions.
Aliyah Boston: So when I first picked up a basketball, at first, I was like, "I want to go to college," and that was really my goal. Until probably about sophomore year. I was like, "Yeah. Everything I do is for the number one pick."
Jon Wertheim: I love that. So-- so making the WNBA, that's-- became, like, a secondary goal (laugh) at some point. You-- you wanted to be the number one pick.
Aliyah Boston: I wanted to be the number one pick.
She was. Then, this spring, came Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink and the 2024 vintage...
Jon Wertheim: Did you have the level of confidence that this draft class seems to?
Napheesa Collier: I don't think anybody has (laugh) the level of confidence this draft class does. I think that's what's so amazing about them actually is they don't act like rookies. It feels like nothing gets them down. And I think that's amazing.
Jon Wertheim: Not a lot of impostor syndrome going on--
Napheesa Collier: Not a lot. No.
New confidence. Old school hoops… This is the league of choice for the basketball purist.…all passing and precision.
Napheesa Collier: Obviously-- the men are really fun. They're very athletic. They can dunk and all those things. But if you're a true fan of basketball, I think that ours is really interesting. Because we play it the right way. We play it really smart. Our-- season is shorter also. So, you know, we go a lot harder I think in our games.
Twelve teams of 12 players. 144 of the world's best…A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces—the league's reigning champs—is a three-time MVP, including this season. Her game, equal parts grace and power.
And there's the O-G, Diana Taurasi, still doing this in her early 40s.
Caitlin Clark: A lotta these players are who I grew up watching on TV and wanting to be like, and now I get to play against them.
Jon Wertheim: Now they're guarding you on the perimeter.
Caitlin Clark: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Clark herself already has a trademark shot: a jumper from just inside midcourt….the logo 3.
Caitlin Clark: Are you guys gonna make me shoot--in these nice clothes?
Jon Wertheim: We got confidence in you.
Caitlin Clark: That's crazy. I'm not even warmed up either–
Caitlin Clark: I only shoot from back there in games if I've, like, made a couple. Then you get a free pass to, like, launch-- launch a long three.
Jon Wertheim: So that's a free pass with the coach? Or that's a free pass with yourself, with your own basketball values--
Caitlin Clark: Both, both, both
Jon Wertheim: What would you say your range is?
Caitlin Clark: I don't know. Sometimes I–I feel like I'm closer than I-- than I am. Like, I don't feel that far back, especially in a game. I don't know. I kinda just lose sight of where I actually am, which is probably a good thing.
Jon Wertheim: But you know you're, like, one dribble (BALL) past mid-court sometimes.
Caitlin Clark: Yeah, couple dribbles past mid-court.
Part of her process: gauging the distance… this isn't like shooting a free throw. Logos vary court-to-court.
Caitlin Clark: Like I would always wanna see how big the logo is. 'Cause, like, some people have, like, bigger logos at center court, some have smaller ones. So it's, like, if it's pretty big, I can usually get there. I can probably get it here from here.
Jon Wertheim: All right.
Caitlin Clark: But I'm not-- (ball) do you want me to try--
Jon Wertheim: Heck, yeah. (ball)
Caitlin Clark: OK, but you have to try second.
Jon Wertheim: All right.
Caitlin Clark: Let's see.
Jon Wertheim: All right.
Caitlin Clark: This is my off day. You guys are putting me through a workout, it's crazy. It's crazy. I didn't know I was signing up for this. There we go--
Jon Wertheim: Bang…
Caitlin Clark: Whoo.
The bottom-of-the-net success has changed the W's balance sheets. Corporate sponsors have arrived.
So have the celebrities. The league recently signed a media rights deal that will pay $200 million a season, more than a three-fold increase….Cathy Engelbert is WNBA commissioner.
Jon Wertheim: The Caitlin Clark phenomenon. How do you describe it?
Cathy Engelbert: She's clearly an unbelievable player, came in with an unbelievable following, has brought a lot of new fans to the league. If you look at our historic season around-- our attendance, our viewership, Caitlin, Angel too, Angel Reese, Rickea Jackson, Cameron Brink. This class of rookies, we will be talking about them a generation from now.
Jon Wertheim: I notice when you're asked about Caitlin a lot, you-- you bring up other rookies as well.
Cathy Engelbert: No league's ever about one player. That player could get hurt or whatever. So I think it's just to give recognition that in sports, people watch for compelling content and rivalries. And you can't do that alone as one person.
Though the commissioner touts league rivalries, competition has also brought out a certain ugliness…. this season saw an onslaught of vitriol - often racist - targeting players…this in a league that is 75% black.
Here's veteran star Breanna Stewart, earlier this month, welcoming new fans, but demanding they act respectfully.
A happier earmark of growth: The WNBA announced plans to expand from 12 teams to 16. And for the first time this season, players travel on charter flights.
Aliyah Boston: I mean, that's amazing. I-- I miss my points a little bit. It's OK.
Jon Wertheim: Oh, your miles? Your air miles.
Aliyah Boston: I miss my little points.
Jon Wertheim: No Delta miles--
Aliyah Boston: My little miles.
Jon Wertheim: --this year.
Aliyah Boston: No Delta miles but it's ok. I think this is great, too, especially for recovery. You're able to get back on that plane, get right back home after a game. The women that came before us, it's like, this is because of you guys. Like, you guYs worked all this and now here we are. We're able to step into that. And it's-- it's a blessing for us.
Napheesa Collier recalls the old days on the road, staying two-to-a-room.
Napheesa Collier: We used to have to stay in, like, the team accredited hotels and now we can stay wherever. So a lot more five star hotels which is nice.
Jon Wertheim: Five star hotels flying private.
Napheesa Collier: I know. We're living the life.
Jon Wertheim: Life's good. You're living the life.
Napheesa Collier: We're like professional athletes or something.
The surge in success this season is about more than the basketball. The arrival walk to the locker room is now a fixture in pro sports— W players absolutely own this space…social media rocket fuel that engages fans. Players love it, Caitlin Clark included.
Consistent with the life cycle of other successful pro sports leagues, the players are done taking one for the team… They now want to get paid. Note the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations between the league and the players…A rookie salary for the 42-game season? $76,000. Base salary for the MVP? $200,000…Yet, the median NBA player salary this season: roughly $12 million.
Jon Wertheim: You talk about this growth and these ratings numbers. What's a fair salary?
Aliyah Boston: I mean, someone like me, I love multiple commas just because, like, we deserve it. That's-- we come in here night in, night out. We work hard. You see the viewership numbers up. You see everything up. I mean, I'm-- I'm all for it, 'cause I love a comma.
Jon Wertheim: Like a comma in that salary.
Aliyah Boston: Yeah.
As a union leader, Napheesa Collier will be at the bargaining table….The NBA shares revenues with its players roughly fifty-fifty and she wonders: is the W willing to do the same? As for commas?
Napheesa Collier: Of course, that would be obviously amazing. I don't know how realistic. Like, that is obviously the goal. And I hope that we can get there.
Jon Wertheim: How much should we compare NBA and WNBA?
Napheesa Collier: We're not asking for the same salaries as the NBA. What we're looking for is rev shares. They're making that because of rev shares. And so that's what we're wanting. That's how we close that gap.
Jon Wertheim: How we're sharing that pie.
Napheesa Collier: Yeah, how we're sharing it.
Meantime, building on this watershed season, the women of the WNBA will keep shooting their shot.
Caitlin Clark: There we go.
Jon Wertheim: Bang. You knew that when it left your hands?
Caitlin Clark: I know when I'm gonna miss--I know when I'm gonna make it. The worst is when it feels good and you still miss--
Jon Wertheim: But you know as soon as-- soon as it leaves your fingertips.
Caitlin Clark: If it feels good, yeah. So, like, if I miss it and it feels good. Like, that's fine.
Jon Wertheim: You're OK with that.
Caitlin Clark: You feel good about your shot, yeah.
With that as encouragement, from this season's Rookie of the Year, we finally gave in.
Caitlin Clark: I think you have to go now. Come on. Let's see if you can get it there--
Jon Wertheim: Two more, two more. You know, I have no legs.
Caitlin Clark: No, I feel confident. Let's see.
Jon Wertheim: I'm wearing this jacket.
Caitlin Clark: Oh.
Jon Wertheim: Uh, terrible.
Caitlin Clark: That's not bad. Get it there.
Jon Wertheim: Oh my god.
Caitlin Clark: You got to jump.
Jon Wertheim: Tight rims.
Jon Wertheim: I'm tellin' you.
Caitlin Clark: No. (laugh) I think that might just be you, honestly.
Produced by Nathalie Sommer. Associate producer, Kaylee Tully. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Craig Crawford.