Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson is a five-time All-Star and will look to lead the team to its third consecutive WNBA Championship this season.
But the Aces’ quest for a three-peat may be under the radar thanks to a rookie class headlined by the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark. The former Iowa State star set an all-time scoring record during his senior season and led his school to back-to-back national championship appearances.
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Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, number 22, speaks during the team’s media day in Las Vegas on May 3, 2024. (BizIif Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Despite the accolades on her resume, the story surrounding Clark is less about her play improving women’s basketball and more about why she’s popular. and media criticism.
Wilson agreed in an interview with The Associated Press that there is a racial component to the sniper’s popularity.
“I think this is a huge deal. A lot of people might say this isn’t a black and white issue, but to me it is,” Wilson said. “It really allows me to be on top of my game as a black woman, but maybe that’s not what I want people to see.
“It doesn’t matter how hard I work because they don’t think it’s marketable. It doesn’t matter what we do as Black women, we’re still swept under the rug.” That’s why the problem boils over.”When people say it’s not a race problem, it’s because it is a race problem. ”
Fever’s Caitlin Clark draws record crowd in Indiana debut: ‘pretty unheard of’
Aja Wilson, No. 9, watches U.S. Basketball Women’s National Team training camp at the Cleveland Clinic Courts on April 3, 2024 in Independence, Ohio. (Mike Rowley/Getty Images)
Clark’s endorsement deal with Nike after the WNBA draft raises questions about why Clark, who has no professional experience, received a contract and why Wilson did not. This raises the question of whether they were not able to obtain it.
Nike announced Saturday that it will be getting a signature shoe. Wilson also signed a sponsorship deal with Gatorade. Wilson made comments to The Associated Press before his contract was announced.
Clark finished his collegiate career as Division I’s all-time leading scorer with 3,951 points. She also won back-to-back Wood Trophy, Naismith Trophy and Women’s AP Player of the Year awards.
When it came to sponsorship deals, Mr. Clark had something that Mr. Wilson didn’t have after college. They were already connected to top companies by name, image and likeness (NIL). SponsorUnited looked at NIL marketing partnerships from February 2023 to February 2024 and found that while Clark already has nine brand deals, she is not even in the top five female athletes when it comes to NIL deals. There was found.
Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky and her former LSU teammate Fraujai Johnson rounded out the top five, according to the study. Reese had 26 NIL contracts and Johnson had 18 NIL contracts. SMU volleyball player Alex Glover had 41 NIL contracts, Cameron Brink (now with the Los Angeles Sparks) had 21 NIL contracts, as did Illinois softball player Yazzie Avila.
Mr. Clark has also not been involved in racial controversy. Amid her on-court rivalry with Reese, Clark said in March that they were just one piece of a larger puzzle for women’s sports.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (No. 22) poses with Atlanta Dream guard Alisha Gray during the first half of a preseason WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (No. 15). (AP Photo/Daron Cummings)
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“I think me and Angel are always great competitors,” she said before the Elite Eight matchup. “I think the Angels would say the same thing, that we’re not alone in women’s basketball. That’s not the only competitive thing about the situation our game is in, and that’s what this game is about. It takes more than one person to really get good at it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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