Caitlin Clark’s magnanimous ability to score and break back-to-back records has made it difficult to put her stellar charisma into words. As a college basketball player, her game caught the attention of several big names from the sports realm, including tennis legends Billie Jean King and Serena Williams, and NFL legends Tom Brady, Eli and Peyton Manning, to name a few. Her sky-rocketed popularity naturally attracted Nike. In 2022, the brand signed a multi-year NIL deal to promote Clark and did a great job at it. But that seems to have been it.

Ever since Clark turned pro and signed the historic $28 million deal, there has been no noise of the partnership. Putting things in perspective, Rachel DeMita pointed out Nike’s ignorance of promoting Clark as a WNBA pro. Giving her candid analysis of the issue, DeMita made some stern assertions.

“Her WNBA season has come and gone and with that Nike has not done one thing to promote her. We have not seen any commercials, we have not seen any ads, we have not seen any Caitlin Clark merchandise and, we for sure as he– have not seen any Caitlyn Clark signature shoes. It is mind-blowing!” she expressed.

Upon being drafted in the W, Clark found herself at a crossroads with Nike, the brand she had been with for over 2 years, and then there was Under Armour, which offered her 4-year deal worth $16 million. DeMita then reasoned UA’s short-term deal would have been more profitable for Clark as, “by a year-by-year basis, she would actually be making more per year.”

Moreover, the brand also suggested Clark  could be the face of the women’s line on the Stephen Curry side because of the similarities in her and Curry’s games. The pitch, by the way, was brought to Clark by the Golden State Warriors star himself.

But throughout Clark’s rookie season, Nike has turned out to be a no-show. A report has it that the brand is currently prioritizing A’ja Wilson’s signature line, landing Caitlin a bit behind in the line. Meanwhile, the rookie has been a center for Wilson Sporting Goods’s carpe diem as they have capitalized on Clark, putting out signature CC balls and merchandise that got sold out within minutes of being launched. The W has also seen a similar response to her jerseys.

Hence, signature shoe yet or not, some kind of merch or acknowledgment was expected of Nike.

Nike concerned with ‘quelling the noise’?

At present, CC is perhaps the WNBA player to boast an unprecedented amount of fan-wealth behind her. Wherever she plays, arenas get sold out and young girls show up to her games, whether it’s home or away, donning her No. 22 Fever jersey. But Nike’s silence on her professional success through the season has been a gut punch for her fans.

One of which, when the Iowa star was announced ROTY, although the official announcement is still to be made, Adidas was excited enough to share a post congratulating Clark on winning the honor. While Nike stayed mum shut. It was perceived as a massive miss in the eyes of her fans.

Moreover, there is no discussion or update on her signature shoe, despite a multi-year deal, and they won’t be coming up with one before 2026-27. However, it wasn’t the same with LeBron James, who played his very first NBA games in his own signature sneakers.

Another outlook on the issue, as sports journalist Ethan Strauss put it, “it’s about a culture at the company that’s more concerned with quelling noise rather than making it, as Nike once used to,” on how the brand has devoted its attention towards the 3x league MVP A’ja Wilson.

Hence, the deal isn’t going as smoothly as CC or the fans would have expected it to be with the brand!