Caitlin Clark's WNBA arrival has coincided with a rapid rise in the league's popularity. By 2030, a league that boasted 12 teams when Clark joined the Indiana Fever will grow to 18; beginning next season, the league's media rights package will balloon to $2.2 billion over 11 years, and the players hope to make significant gains in upcoming collective bargaining negotiations.
But for many fans, Clark has been their gateway into watching WNBA basketball. After a historic college career at Iowa, Clark became the top overall pick of the 2024 draft and won Rookie of the Year honors while setting a new league record for assists in a season. The All-Star guard guided the Fever to the playoffs after eight years, successfully bringing her high-octane brand of basketball from the NCAA to the pros.
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Judging by her individual popularity, it is easy to argue that Clark is the present face of the WNBA and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Many of Clark's peers feel the same, as evidenced by a new anonymous player poll in The Athletic.
However, Clark has competition for this distinction. Of the 39 players polled by The Athletic, just over 50 percent said they see Clark as the face of the WNBA in five years, but the Dallas Wings' prized rookie Paige Bueckers (14 percent) and USC's star guard JuJu Watkins (18 percent) are also expected to be in the conversation.
It goes to show that there is tremendous talent in The W right now, and more in the pipeline as the league experiences unprecedented growth.
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