Basketball legends give bold takes on Caitlin Clark’s impossible decision

Basketball legends Reggie Theus and Nancy Lieberman weighed in on the tough decision that Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has to make between playing in the Big 3 or the WNBA after college.

Clark is projected to go No. 1 overall to the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

This year, she broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAAW single-season scoring record with 1,113 points, and Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division I all-time career scoring record for both men and women with 3,830 points.

The 22-year-old has become one of the biggest names in college basketball over the last two years. This prompted rapper and actor Ice Cube to offer her a $5 million contract to play in his Big 3 professional basketball league for the 2024 season.

The offer would pay Clark over 44-times more than the WNBA’s $113,295 average annual salary. It’s also over 65-times more than the $76,535 she’d make a rookie, should she go first overall.

The problem is, the Big 3’s schedule, which runs from June 15 to August 18, cuts into the March Madness star’s anticipated WNBA season, which runs from May 14 to as late as October 20. She’d miss two games in the WNBA’s slate.

Theus and Lieberman chimed in on the conflict of interest. Theus told TMZ Sports that he’d join the WNBA if he were Clark. The two-time NBA All-Star and Coach of the Big 3’s 3 Headed Monsters urged Clark to try to do both, but ultimately chase her dream over the weightier financial advantage that the Big 3 presents.

“To play in the Big 3 or the WNBA, and become a WNBA champion and all those things, it would be an easy choice for me,” Theus said. When asked whether he’d choose the dream or the money, he proclaimed “I would.”

Meanwhile, Lieberman excitingly advocated for Clark to play for Power, the Big 3 team she currently coaches. She expressed no doubt that the 6-foot guard could compete against men.

“Can she play against men? Yeah, of course she can. Would she be the best player? She’d bring whatever she has,” Lieberman asserted.

Lieberman played two years in professional men’s basketball leagues and even attested to competing against NBA Hall-of-Famer Karl Malone. As the first woman to be named a head coach in a professional men’s sports league, Lieberman knows firsthand what its like to blaze a trail in women’s athletics.

Clark’s viral marksmanship as a three-point shooter had the basketball world clamoring for her to be included in Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu’s 3-Point Challenge during the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend.

She’d be able to exploit the Big 3’s four-point shot and compete with former NBA stars. Ice Cube’s offer would even allow Clark to play in both leagues if she wanted to.

The Iowa native has roughly two weeks to decide if she’ll play in the Big 3 and work her way to the WNBA at a later date or forego Ice Cube’s offer before the 2024 WNBA Draft commences on April 15.