Dear WNBA,
Caitlin Clark would never write this letter. She'd never remind you how many tickets she's helped sell, how many people she's brought to television screens, or how much money has followed her into women's basketball. She'd certainly never look at another player's paycheck and take credit for it.
So, as her fans, we'll do the uncomfortable part for her.
You're welcome.
And to be clear, this isn't directed at the overwhelming majority of WNBA players who compete against Caitlin, respect her, and understand exactly what is happening to their sport. It's for the very few who have publicly seemed bothered by the attention, the crowds, the coverage or the fans who followed No. 22 into the league.
We have a question.
Have you looked at your paycheck?
In 2025, the WNBA supermax was about $249,000. In 2026, it's $1.4 million. The team salary cap went from roughly $1.5 million to $7 million. The new CBA represents a transformation in how WNBA players are compensated.
As of the 2026 WNBA season, the new CBA has dramatically changed the salary scale. The supermax cap hit is $1.4 million, with the regular maximum at $1.19 million. Her Hoop Stats
The top salaries/cap in 2026:
| Player | Team | 2026 salary |
|---|---|---|
| A’ja Wilson | Las Vegas Aces | $1.4M |
| Napheesa Collier | Minnesota Lynx | $1.4M |
| Kelsey Mitchell | Indiana Fever | $1.4M |
| Ezi Magbegor | Seattle Storm | $1.25M |
| Kahleah Copper | Phoenix Mercury | $1.20M |
| Marina Mabrey | Toronto Tempo | $1.20M |
| Alyssa Thomas | Phoenix Mercury | $1.20M |
| Sabrina Ionescu | New York Liberty | $1.19M |
| Breanna Stewart | New York Liberty | $1.19M |
| Arike Ogunbowale | Dallas Wings | $1.19M |
There are several others tied at $1.19M, including Jackie Young, Brittney Griner, Jonquel Jones, Allisha Gray, Kayla McBride, and others.
No, Caitlin Clark didn't do that alone. The union negotiated it. Generations of women built this league. Today's stars earned it.
But let's not pretend the timing is irrelevant.
The WNBA spent years asking for more attention, more television viewers, more ticket buyers, more corporate investment, and more mainstream sports fans.
Then Caitlin Clark showed up.
And she brought them.
We watched it happen in Iowa City, where women's basketball became appointment television and sold-out arenas became normal. We watched it happen in Indianapolis, where Fever games became events and No. 22 helped create an economic ripple that stretched well beyond the arena. We watched Nike make one of the largest investments ever in a women's basketball player and then build an entire signature brand around her.
And most importantly, we watched it happen everywhere the Fever traveled.
That's the part worth remembering.
The Clark Effect didn't only make money for Caitlin Clark.
It made money for women's basketball.
That's how sports economics work. More people watching means more valuable broadcasts. More people attending means more valuable franchises. More merchandise, sponsorships and cultural relevance mean more revenue.
And eventually, more revenue means bigger paychecks.
Which brings us back to those few people who have occasionally seemed annoyed that Caitlin gets too much attention.
We understand. The circus can probably be exhausting. Not every question needs to be about Caitlin Clark. Not every accomplishment by another great player needs to be viewed through the prism of No. 22.
But attention isn't a finite resource.
Caitlin didn't take your spotlight.
She brought a bigger spotlight.
And now the league's best players can make $1.4 million instead of $249,000.
Caitlin would never connect those dots herself. That's part of what makes her Caitlin. She talks about her teammates. She praises her opponents. She talks about growing the game. When people have used her name to attack other players, she's explicitly rejected it. She once put it simply: “I'm just here to play basketball.”
We know, Caitlin.
So we'll handle this one.
To the WNBA players getting the biggest raises in league history: Congratulations. You earned them.
To the generations of women who built the WNBA: Thank you.
And to the handful still wondering why everybody keeps talking about that Hawkeye from Iowa...
Check the attendance.
Check the ratings.
Check the revenue.
Then check your direct deposit.
You're welcome.
With love,
Caitlin Clark fans everywhere.
109 comments
I had never watched a WNBA game until Caitlin became a part of it. I first heard of her when she was in college. I quickly became a fan because she is such exciting player. She makes amazing plays, she shoots from amazing distances, and her love for the game is quickly evident.
I have always been a sports fan for all different types of sports. Football, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, and others. But women’s basketball has become my favorite at this stage of my life. Although Caitlin and the Fever are who I watch mostly, I have learned to enjoy the play of many other WNBA players. I’m amazed by their talent and love for the sport.
I’m from South Texas so I haven’t had the opportunity to see Caitlin play in person. But I never miss any of her games. At 58 years she’s once again given me the joy of cheering for someone who works hard, plays amazing, but mostly is a great inspiration for kids and people of all ages. Even my husband has become a huge fan.
I too was able to get a pair of her shoes before they sold out. I was extremely excited about finding them.
Thanks Caitlin for giving me a new favorite sport.
I don’t know if Caitlin will ever read this, but after seeing this post today, I felt compelled to finally put into words something I’ve carried with me for a long time: thank you.
For me, it starts with joy.
I’m 55 years old and a native of the Des Moines area. I grew up in Norwalk, Iowa, and I think there will always be something special about watching someone from where you come from do something extraordinary. Caitlin and I are generations apart, but there are little pieces of home that make the connection feel real. We’ve shopped at the same malls. We grew up in communities just a short drive from one another. My niece now attends Dowling Catholic, where Caitlin graduated. She’s one of our own.
As an Iowan, I’ve always felt an enormous sense of pride in not only what Caitlin has accomplished, but in the character, integrity and authenticity with which she has done it.
But what Caitlin has meant to me goes much deeper than basketball.
When I first started watching her at Iowa, I was navigating a very different season of my own life. COVID had isolated all of us. I had recently become an empty nester and moved to a new city, and I was trying to figure out what this next chapter of my life was supposed to look like.
And then I started watching Iowa women’s basketball.
There was something about Caitlin that lit a fire in me. Of course there was the extraordinary talent, but it was more than that. It was the competitiveness, the fire, the tenacity and the absolute joy with which she played the game. You could feel how much she loved what she was doing.
And somehow, watching her gave me something I didn’t realize I needed: something to look forward to.
There was something else happening during those years, too. The world felt increasingly divided. Yet for a couple of hours during an Iowa basketball game, none of that seemed to matter. Thousands of people inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena and so many more of us sitting in our living rooms were united around something joyful.
We cheered together. We held our breath together. We celebrated together.
And sometimes, we were lucky enough to do it together in person.
My mom and I went to see the Hawkeye women play an exhibition game in Des Moines. Our seats may have been in the nosebleeds, but I wouldn’t trade that experience. We laughed and smiled, met the people sitting around us and exchanged stories with complete strangers who didn’t feel like strangers for very long. The people next to us were Iowa season-ticket holders, and I loved hearing about all of their experiences, while being more than a little envious that they got to experience Carver-Hawkeye Arena all season long.
That’s what sports can do at their very best. They create community between people who may have absolutely nothing else in common.
Caitlin also didn’t just make me an Iowa women’s basketball fan. She brought me back to Iowa basketball, period. Before long, I was looking up the men’s schedule, following Coach McCaffery’s team, learning the players’ names and planning my evenings around games. Somewhere along the way, Iowa basketball had become part of my life again.
And in a funny way, Caitlin also reconnected me to a piece of my own Iowa childhood.
I grew up in Norwalk during the six-on-six era of Iowa girls’ basketball. That uniquely Iowa version of the game is part of our state’s history and part of my memories of growing up. Our community had a proud girls’ basketball tradition, and I remember the excitement surrounding it.
Decades later, watching Caitlin made me appreciate that history in an entirely new way. She didn’t introduce me to the tradition of Iowa girls’ basketball. She made me fall in love with it all over again.
Along the way, I also developed tremendous respect for Lisa Bluder, Jan Jensen and all of the women who spent decades building the game long before the rest of the country started paying this much attention.
And then something even more meaningful happened outside of basketball.
Caitlin became part of my relationships.
My mom and I texted through Iowa games. My mom and stepdad became invested. We bought the merchandise. We celebrated wins, agonized over losses and always had something we couldn’t wait to talk about with one another.
Those games became memories with people I love.
That’s why when people talk about Caitlin’s “impact,” I sometimes wish there were a way to measure the things that don’t show up in television ratings, attendance records, ticket prices or merchandise sales.
How do you measure joy?
How do you measure a mother and daughter texting back and forth during a basketball game?
How do you measure sitting in the nosebleeds with your mom, laughing with strangers who suddenly feel like friends because you’re all there for the same reason?
How do you measure families gathering around a television? Or giving someone navigating a lonely chapter something to anticipate? How do you measure millions of people setting aside their differences for two hours and simply sharing the happiness of watching someone do something extraordinary?
Those things count, too.
I’ve watched Caitlin receive an enormous amount of attention, praise, criticism and negativity. And through all of it, what continues to resonate with me is that she seems determined to remain exactly who she is.
So when I saw this letter today, written because Caitlin herself would probably never say these things on her own behalf, I realized I wanted to say something on mine.
And apparently, at 55, Caitlin still isn’t finished giving me new experiences.
On October 1, I became one of the millions of people staring at my phone waiting for her shoes to drop. I stepped away from a meeting, watched my phone like my life depended on it, and when that confirmation finally appeared telling me I’d gotten a pair, I celebrated with all the restraint and maturity of a small child. 😊
I suppose that’s part of the gift, too.
Joy doesn’t have an age limit.
So thank you, Caitlin.
Thank you for the basketball, certainly. Thank you for representing Iowa so beautifully. But more than that, thank you for the joy.
Thank you for the relationships strengthened, the family memories created, the strangers who became friends for an afternoon, the excitement, the anticipation and the countless ordinary days you made a little brighter.
I may no longer live in Iowa, but it will always be home, and my heart will always bleed black and gold.
I’m a fan of your game.
But my gratitude for you runs much deeper than basketball.
In a world that can feel incredibly heavy and divided, you have given people a reason to come together and celebrate something good.
And I’m incredibly grateful that I got to experience Caitlin Clark in my lifetime. 💛🖤
Caitlin,
Thank you for bringing basketball and my 1994 high school basketball teammates back into my life!! We watched you together (from across the country…DC, Davenport, Waukee, and Arizona) texting each other in our group chat throughout every game your senior year (we all had watched you individually before). It was so fun to reminisce on our playing days and 1994 Championship while we watched you at Iowa. We were thrilled for you (and us!) when Indiana won the first round draft pick…and chose you!! We still today watch your games and text, commenting on your flashy assists Kelsey’s reverse layups, AB’s post play and the way the Fever girls play for each other!
I made it to your PreSeason game in Iowa City in 2025…It was AMAZING to watch you and your teammates enjoying your welcome home, then Minnesota in 2025. Your time and patience taken to sign autographs and the expressions on those boys and girls faces…unforgettable!! And this year for my 50th I saw you play on Gainbridge on Aug 11…Such an amazing experience!!!
You are so talented, on and off the court, and I am already counting the days to next season!!! Keep smiling that smile we all know and love!!! You make everyone in Iowa proud!!!
Keep shooting for your dreams and I hope one of them is an assist to KK Timpson for a dunk!!
Go Fever
Kim
Dear Caitlin,
Thank you. It feels like such a simple phrase, but it carries the weight of so many unforgettable, edge-of-your-seat moments.
From the very beginning, watching you step onto the court in the black and gold, you brought an absolute electricity to the state of Iowa. You didn’t just play basketball; you completely redefined it. Those deep logo threes that seemed to hang in the air forever, the impossible passes that found their mark with perfect precision, and the sheer, relentless passion you poured into every single game gave all of us in the Hawkeye state something truly extraordinary to rally behind. Carver-Hawkeye Arena has always been special, but you turned it into a place of pure magic, creating memories that will echo through Iowa for generations.
But the pride didn’t stop at the state line. Watching you carry that same fiery, transformative energy into the WNBA with the Indiana Fever has been an absolute joy. Seeing you light up the professional stage and hearing the roar of the crowd in Indy made traveling out to Gainbridge Fieldhouse completely unforgettable. You brought the exact same magic to the Fever that you gave to Iowa, proving that your greatness and competitive spirit know no ceiling.
You have elevated women’s basketball to unprecedented heights, inspiring countless young athletes and reminding the rest of us of the pure, unfiltered thrill of sports. Thank you for the breathtaking shots, for the fierce loyalty to your teammates, and for giving your fans the absolute privilege of witnessing history in the making.
With deepest gratitude and endless Hawkeye pride,
Michelle, A lifelong fan
Perfectly written letter!
THANK YOU CAITLIN for everything!
I personally know one of the young men that you tossed your shoes to in the crowd at GAME DAY in Iowa City …you made his day!
KEEP BEING YOU!
Yes, yes and yes! Well done 22.
This is so true! I loved watching her at Iowa; I love watching her with the Indiana Fever. I hate the inequity going on with her, though.
I hope this letter was sent to the WNBA and I’d be curious what response they had.
I loved you when I watched you at Iowa and with all of your teammates who all played together and never felt like you were taking the spotlight. They just loved you for you and all that you could do for them and hopefully someday the WNBA will be able to see that you are a great human being.
Thank You Caitlin , you have made a lot of us , love basketball again!! You have brought generations back together, you alone have taught about beauty from within !! There is next year , and you’re just beginning!!
Thank You , you are loved beyond words
Susan Otto