On a recent episode of Gil’s Arena podcast, the hate surrounding Caitlin Clark was a hot topic, and Los Angeles Sparks veteran guard Lexi Brown, who was very vocal when Ice Cube reportedly offered Clark $5 million to become the first woman to play in his Big3 League, joined the podcast.
Arenas opened the conversation by explaining that people need to stop taking the Clark hype personally. She’s the WNBA’s meal ticket and they would be fools not to ride it.
“Same thing with Wemby, they put him on TV every day too,” said Brown, acknowledging that Caitlin Clark is a golden goose for the WNBA, but it doesn’t mean she’s going to come in and dominate the league.
“Let’s not overreact about this,” Brown cautioned, echoing the sentiments of several WNBA players who are licking their chops in anticipation of testing Clark’s skills. “There’s smart business decisions being made.”
Caitlin Clark Is Big Business, Get With It Or Move Out The Way
Arenas is all in on the business side of things and with the over-the-top promotion of Clark that is sure to dominant next season’s WNBA coverage.
Brown just doesn’t want people to confuse the media hype with the actual player.
Gilbert says all of that is irrelevant. If the WNBA wants to grow it has to ride the Clark wave until the wheels fall off and some of the current stars will suffer in that process.
“For the game to grow, hands have to be cut off, period,” Arenas said.
“The NBA does it all the time,” he continued. “You see Wemby with the new Nike commercial? They capitalize in real time right now. The ‘W’ needs to see, ‘Alright’ this what the NBA is doing. We need to do it.’ There needs to be a Caitlin Clark logo. You need to start putting these things in place so you can run with it. “
Gilbert Arenas Says WNBA OGs Have To Fall Back
Arenas says that in order for the WNBA to take off and capitalize on the Cailtin Clark Effect, the old heads like Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart, who have forewarned Clark that her WNBA life won’t be the walk in the park it was in college, have to accept their position as irrelevant to this new wave.
Arenas predicted how the situation will go for these current stars once Clark takes the court against them.
“Diana Taurasi and all of them, as soon as the game starts…(makes a whistle sound), two fouls, sit yo old ass down…because I don’t need you anymore,” Arenas said.
The WNBA is already capitalizing, having boosted the amount of nationally televised games that the Indiana Fever will play next season, because Clark is projected to be taken No. 1 overall by the franchise.
WNBA Boosts Indiana Fever National TV Games From 22 To 36
The WNBA announced that it will show 36 of the Indiana Fever’s 40 games on its national broadcast and streaming partners, starting with the season opener at Connecticut on May 14. Last season, the Fever had only 22 of their games shown nationally.
The Fever will appear eight times across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, as well as eight times on ION and twice on CBS. In addition, the Fever will be highlighted 13 times on NBA TV, four times on Prime Video and once on CBS Sports Network.
While Arenas says he respects the fight that the OGs have in trying to stand their ground and protect legacies, it’s a battle that they already lost.
When Taurasi says in reference to Clark that, “Reality is coming. There’s levels to this thing and that’s just life, we all went through it,” Arenas believes that Taurasi is the one that should be re-adjusting her reality because the league no longer needs to promote the old guard.
Clark represents the fresh juice, freshly squeezed for taking the baton and elevating the league to new heights. Keeping these eyes that women’s basketball has gained and that will only increase as they dominate at the Paris Olympics this summer.
“I don’t need you. Listen, you held (the league) down for 20 years…congratulations,” Arenas said.
Arenas Expects Refs To Cheat For Caitlin Clark
The conversation switched to who would win a matchup today between the two without — as Arenas kept referencing — the refs blowing the whistle and creating ticky-tack fouls on Taurasi to give Clark an advantage.
Brown said she believes this is Taurasi’s final season, but the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer would give Clark a 40-piece because “she’s smart and that Phoenix offense is built for DT.”
“[The league] gave this team 35 national televised game for a reason,” Arenas responded. “If you think about touching her (Caitlin Clark), I’m blowing the whistle. I’m thinking about the future and the ratings.”
Brown says people want to see a fair matchup between Clark and other WNBA stars. Arenas replied, “It’s been 20 years, and a needle hasn’t been moved,” as far as the league growing in revenue, stature and popularity.
Gil wants everyone to prepare for Caitlin Clark mania, and, according to the former NBA shooter, the WNBA should and will do everything it can to make sure that Clark rises to the top of the food chain, regardless of what these prideful veterans try to do.
