Cailin Clark played in just 53 games in the WNBA (55, including the playoffs), and fans are waiting for her return to the action. Sadly, the delay in WNBA-WNBPA CBA discussions is raising questions over the possibility of the season itself. While the WNBPA is looking for a favorable revenue-sharing model, looking at the recent revenue numbers, there is a chance of the ‘Clark-effect’ playing a major role in it.
Cathy Engelbert spoke about the Clark effect early in the season, and now it might have cost her the WNBA Commissioner position, according to the WNBA analyst.
Caitlin Clark ‘Overpowered’ WNBA?
When Napheesa Collier wanted to show the pay disparity in the league, she used the 2024 rookie’s pay and revenue as an example. While the breakdown certainly impacted her intended listeners, it also highlighted the power CC brings with her. Sadly, the league was not ready for the same, as per Annie Constabile, who was on Rachel Demita’s ‘the Courtside’ podcast
“I think when it comes to the arrival of Caitlin Clark, there was a lot of business there, but there weren’t enough business minds ready for that, or that prepared the league to be ready for that,” Costabile said.
Interestingly, every top executive on the board has an illustrious resume and experience with proven, successful firms such as Nike and Deloitte. But what Annie Constabile hinted at was that even such qualified management experts couldn’t predict and act on the impact of Clark’s arrival.
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Although the WNBA was not ready for the ’Clark-effect’, it was not ready with a CBA proposal at the February 2 meeting, which was one of the most important milestones in the discussions. CC shared a cryptic post in response.
Caitlin Clark Not Happy With CBA Progress
The Fever guard was in New York for her NBC broadcasting debut, appearing for the pre-game segment of the Lakers vs Knicks game. Fans requested that Clark attend the CBA meet in the city. While she didn’t attend the meeting, she received the saddening news that there was ‘no progress on CBA’.
A couple of days after that, the player shared a photo of her signing autographs for the fans and wrote, “Time to get back to a lot of this.”
Caitlin on her story “time to get back to a lot of this.” and she’s right! pic.twitter.com/tgoZRkPfFi
— correlation (@nosyone4) February 5, 2026
The photo and CC’s statement scream completion of the CBA discussions as early as possible to get things going into the 2026 season.