Caitlin Clark is gearing up for her much-awaited return. After sitting out the 2025 season, the fans have been curious about when they would see the WNBA star on the court again. Thankfully, having recovered fully, Clark is all set to make her comeback for Team USA.
However, despite her long absence from the playing field, the WNBA star’s popularity did not suffer a bit. In fact, with a surge in merchandise sales, Clark has now surpassed even the NBA rookies!
Caitlin Clark Collectibles Are In High Demand
The signs were already there. Following her stellar career for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark was already a superstar. Thus, when she entered the WNBA realm, the hype around her was shooting through the roof. Playing for the Indiana Fever, the 23-year-old dropped some stellar performances to up the ante. As a result, one of Clark’s WNBA games recorded a whopping 20,711 people flocking to the stadium.
The same intensity has been carried forward in 2026, too. As per the reports, the WNBA card market is on the rise. And leading the charge is none other than the 23-year-old Rookie of the Year from 2024. At the moment, Clark’s rookie cards and special edition cards are in heavy demand.
This has resulted in pushing the price of the collectibles to some new heights. Interestingly, such a rush for Clark is surpassing even the demands for NBA rookie cards!
“There’s never been this kind of excitement around a WNBA player in the trading card world. Her popularity is translating directly into the collectibles market, and it’s a game-changer for women’s sports,” observing the market trends, an industry analyst observed, as quoted by Marca.
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Caitlin clark on the rise!!https://t.co/iP6ClWAjlt
— Debmallya Chakraborty (@DebmallyaC93340) February 16, 2026
Surely, such a market trend is a welcome sign for the WNBA’s growth in the future. However, as Clark is all set to play for her country, Kara Lawson might be a bit hesitant to give the Fever star an opportunity.
Caitlin Clark To Sacrifice Her Place For Chelsea Gray In Team USA?
The field is set. And Team USA fans are gushing over the idea of witnessing Clark playing her first game in her country’s colors. Unfortunately, that might suffer a significant setback as Kara Lawson will probably have a problem of plenty.
Analyzing the situation, WNBA insider Rachel DeMita pointed out how there might be a selection dilemma between Clark and Chelsea Gray.
“It will be very interesting to see the lineups that they choose, and I’m sure the discourse around WNBA Twitter will be very civil, not! Somebody’s going to be mad whether Chelsea Gray is starting or whether Caitlin Clark is starting. Somebody, somewhere, is going to be mad. That’s just how the discourse is around this league,” DeMita noted.
Thus, with things looking tense, fans would be eager to see what happens next.