The Indiana Fever have been doing their best to survive without Caitlin Clark. Indiana's superstar has missed most of the 2025 WNBA season with several lower-body injuries. It appears that Clark may have left some big money on the table during the 2024 offseason.
Clark allegedly turned down $15 million to play 10 weeks in BIG3, per Grant Young of Sports Illustrated.
Young cited an August 26th podcast appearance from Tattoo, who is “The Voice” of BIG3. Tattoo reportedly appeared on the TFU podcast and set the record straight on how much money Clark actually turned down.
The podcast episode has since been made private on YouTube.
“We offered Caitlin Clark $15 million… It started at $5 [million]. But the official final offer was $15 million for 10 weeks!” Tattoo said. “She must be making some good dough… And I'm sure many offers came to her, especially, I think we helped her with [getting] some more money.”
Until recently, the only number that was out there was that starting offer of $5 million. Now it seems she turned down three times that much.
The biggest difference between BIG3 and other 3-on-3 leagues like Unrivaled, Clark's purposes at least, is the schedule.
BIG3's season runs from June through August, putting it in direct competition with the WNBA.
If Clark had decided to accept that offer, it would have put her rookie season with the Fever in jeopardy. As such, it makes a ton of sense why Clark allegedly turned down that huge offer.
Caitlin Clark also turned down offer to join Unrivaled
BIG3 is not the only 3-on-3basketball league that Clark has turned down.
Clark also declined to play in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
Naturally the Unrivaled schedule does not overlap with the WNBA schedule. There was a much better chance that Clark would participate in Unrivaled.
However, Clark clearly needed some time off to recuperate after a whirlwind 2024 calendar year.
Clark went right from Iowa to the WNBA with practically no break. She also received a lot of attention for not being selected for the 2024 Olympics. Even when she was off the court, it appeared to be an exhausting year.
Now that Clark is battling through injuries, it would be surprising to see her participate in Unrivaled this year as well.
Hopefully Clark can get some rest this offseason and get healthy before the 2026 WNBA season next spring.
