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Fever coach has strong opinion about Caitlin Clark's costly $1 million decision

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Michael Gallagher | Last updated Apr 30, 2025 10:31 PM ET

Many basketball fans will argue that Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is already the face of the WNBA.

And Clark reportedly turned down quite a bit of money — $1 million, to be exact — to be the face of another women’s professional basketball league just a few months ago.

Most fans were taken by surprise when Clark declined a lucrative invitation from Unrivaled that allegedly included the highest salary of any star in the league (one that is more than a 1,200% increase from her $76,535 WNBA salary and three times more than the average Unrivaled salary) plus “significant” equity in the league.

And while some criticized Clark turning down the worthwhile offer and choosing to take a full offseason off while other WNBA stars like Angel Reese, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and others committed to playing in the 3-on-3 league’s debut season, someone who was in support of Clark’s decision to prioritize rest and recovery is her new head coach, Stephanie White.

“I admire the college players that have to come from playing a 40-plus-game college season to them having to come straight into the W,” White said in a recent interview with ESPN.

“It's physically grueling. It's mentally taxing, let alone what Caitlin's had to deal with. I think it was great for her to get a break. I think it was great for her body, for her mind, her soul, probably.”

To White’s point, Clark played an abnormal amount of minutes during the previous calendar year, in which she jumped from an NCAA Tournament run right into the WNBA with a minimal break in between.

In fact, Clark averaged some of the highest minutes per game of any rookie in WNBA history, and when factoring in the 1,357 minutes she played during her senior season at Iowa, Clark was on the court for a total of 2,272 minutes from the start of the 2023 college basketball season, which began on March 23, through the WNBA Olympic break, which started July 17, with just a three-week break in between.

Clark played the second-most minutes (914) behind Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale (923 minutes) during the first half of the WNBA season prior to the All-Star and Olympic break last year.

They were the only two players to hit the 900-minute mark from the time the regular season started on May 14 before its month-long break in August.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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