Miami is about to heat up further! The Unrivaled has selected 30 players with Aliyah Boston being the most recent signee. But what’s exciting is that the league has expanded to create space for 6 more players, which many think is the last attempt to bring in Caitlin Clark after Lexie Hull and Kate Martin. While fans were speculating whether Clark would join the league, a popular podcaster Rachel DeMita had warned her against doing so.

But with time, DeMita has eaten her words and now spoken about an advantage that the point guard would be getting in Unrivaled that could pull her into joining the 3×3 basketball league.

On Friday’s episode of her podcast, DeMita listed the possible reasons that could convince the Fever No. 22 to join the league while also sharing her take on what could be better for the ROTY.

“Caitlin Clark is the star of the Indiana Fever. That is their core piece. That is their gold. They need to protect her the best that they possibly can. However, the Indiana Fever cannot offer her that much money right now… The WNBA cannot offer her that much money right now. So, if Unrivaled is a league that is offering her millions of dollars to play for less than 3 months then that seems like you know a much better offer than even playing in the WNBA,” DeMita said.

But the question is if Clark at all needs the extra money that many of the WNBA players eye in their offseason. On top of her $76,000 salary from the WNBA, Clark has an eight-year, $28 million deal with Nike, which gives her $3.5 million a year from the shoe company alone.

Apart from that, she also has deals with insurance agency State Farm, in which she appears in nationwide commercials, HyVee, Gatorade, Wilson, Gainbridge, Xfinity, and Buick. While the exact specifics of the deals are unknown, she likely brings in millions from those deals. However, DeMita also pointed out one more thing.

“The WNBA is that anchor that Caitlin Clark will need to play in for the entirety of her career. So there are whispers… there are rumors that the Indiana Fever do not want her to play in Unrivaled…,” she further added. Clark has also said the same in the past. “Honestly, I’m just focused on this right now. One thing at a time. Can’t always just be moving on to the next, my focus is right here,” Clark had said ClutchPoints’ Matthew Byrne in August.

The Indiana Fever drafted Clark in 2024 as their first overall pick on a $338,056/4-year contract. In her rookie year, she made $76,535, which is quite less when compared to the benefits the Unrivaled is reportedly offering her. In the Miami-based league, it is reported that the Des Moines-born would make $1 million as a base salary, apart from getting equity and revenue sharing from the broadcasting partners TNT, and bonuses too. Therefore, DeMita changed her wish.

Previously, DeMita had cited Clark’s hectic schedule, opining that she had not only gone through physical stress but also the W had also consumed her mentally. “Not only the kind of physicality, and double teams, and face guards, and all those things that she was receiving on the court. But also all of the noise, all of the drama, all the like media circus surrounding her off the court. Like that just had to have been so much to handle,” DeMita had stated. And why not? Look at her schedule.

Clark played almost nonstop since Iowa’s first game of the 2023-24 season last November until the Indiana Fever, was eliminated from the WNBA playoffs in late September. She just had three weeks off between the NCAA Women’s Final Four and the start of the Fever’s training camp, and then another three and a half weeks off for the Paris Olympics break. So the offseason break might be dear to her. So what plans does she have for it?

Golfing is her top choice. So she is playing in the pro-am at the LPGA Tour’s The Annika on Nov. 13 with Annika Sorenstam. “I love golf so the opportunity to play in the Pro-Am for a tournament with a legend like Annika Sorenstam’s name on it is so exciting. … I’m looking forward to seeing all the LPGA players on the driving range, being part of the Women’s Leadership Summit, and, of course, teeing it up in the pro-am with Annika,” Clark had said in a statement from The Annika.

DeMita didn’t shy away from saying that the league is new and hence they need Clark instead of the ‘generational talent’ needing it. She also subtly pointed out that Clark has been discredited for the success she has brought into the league and was wary if this could start once again after Unrivaled participation. Meanwhile, Unrivaled has not left any stone unturned to lure clark.

One tactic has been signing Clark’s closest friends in the league. Unrivaled has announced that Clark’s former Iowa teammate Kate Martin and current Fever teammate Lexie Hull, and fellow Fever teammate Aliyah Boston would also be joining the league.

Moreover, Unrivaled president and Collier’s husband Alex Bazzell said in an interview, “We’re always going to have a roster spot for Caitlin Clark. We’re not applying a full court press the way people think. We are letting her decompress from basketball. … She knows that we have a spot for her when she’s ready.” So where does it stand presently?

“But Unrivaled has also strategically signed two of Clark’s closest friends… to recent contracts, and, according to sources, speculation is Clark is leaning ’60/40′ to saying ‘yes’,” an October 31 article from Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend revealed. Meanwhile, DeMita revealed a key factor other than money that could draw the Des Moines-born into the league.

Rachel DeMita gives reasons for Caitlin Clark to join Unrivaled

According to Napheesa Collier, a founding partner of the league, the Unrivaled “outperformed our financial projections,” which allowed Phee and Stewie to expand its player base from 30 to 36. Plus the last few signees have been related to CC in some or the other way. While Kate Martin, the 27th signee, played with Clark as an Iowa Hawkeyes, the 29th signee Lexie Hull is Clark’s friend and teammate from the Indiana Fever. Similarly, the 30th signee Aliyah Boston is also Clark’s teammate. Thus, fans feel that this could be an attempt to lure the former NCAA Queen into the league.

DeMita opined that though the league is new and there can be a slight risk of injury for Clark, the point guard is “a psycho. She loves basketball. She has that Mamba mentality.” So according to her, she might find it difficult to completely divert her focus off basketball even when not on the floor, just like the NBA great Kobe Bryant. Plus, DeMita gave examples of how the league has recently drafted people close to her.

DeMita also revealed that “Caitlin and Napheesa Collier have the same agent. Does that necessarily mean that they both will be doing the same things? No, but it does mean that they have more of a direct line of communication than Caitlin might with some other players now.” Therefore, according to her, all these might get CC into the league.

Though it remains to be seen what decision the reigning WNBA ROTY might take, DeMita’s statements surely raise hope of the fans to see their favorite player in Miami. As for now, Clark’s admirers are eagerly waiting for her to enchant all with her golfing skills in Pro-Am.