"He's trying to make a business decision": Former WNBA champ Lexie Brown criticizes Ice Cube's $5M offer for $3.1 million NIL-valued Caitlin Clark
Former WNBA champion Lexie Brown is not a fan of Ice Cube's reported $5 million offer to Caitlin Clark to play in the BIG3 league.
With college basketball at the forefront of everyone's minds during March Madness, Ice Cube broke the internet with his offer to Clark. The sum exceeds her current NIL value, estimated at $3.1 million, according to On3.
Lexie Brown had a myriad of issues with the offer, questioning why a non-WNBA player was getting the first opportunity.
"If you open the article and see what he said was his reasoning, he wanted to provide more opportunities for WNBA players and provide opportunities to not go overseas. So, you offer the contract to a player who's not even in the WNBA."
Her next issue was that Ice Cube's comments about alternatives for WNBA players could turn out to be more harmful than helpful.
"The BIG3 does not happen during overseas season so that doesn't make sense. You pretty much offended all of the European countries that opened the door to us, give us a lot of money, a lot of love, and a lot of experience by calling them dismal and dubious. And there are some very beautiful countries that we have the opportunity to go play in."
At the crux of it, though, Brown wasn't happy with the way the idea was being marketed.
"If you're gonna say it's for that, then stand on that. But, I don't think he's trying to, I think he's trying to make a business decision, which he's a businessman, that makes sense. But to mask it in this 'I want to uplift and support WNBA players and women athletes' is kind of a cop-out I think."
What does Ice Cube have to say about the offer to Caitlin Clark?
When the story first broke, many were understandably surprised. But Ice Cube was quick to explain his thought process behind the offer.
"We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship. But I won’t deny what’s now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3."
One key area that the owner of the BIG3 focused on was the history the league has already made. The BIG3 was the first pro sports league to offer a woman the head coaching responsibility of a men's pro sports team.
"With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes. The skeptics laughed when we made Nancy Lieberman the first female coach of a men’s pro team, and she won the championship in her first year. Then Lisa Leslie won it all in Year 2."
Then, as Lexie Brown pointed out, he called out the countries that were offering an alternative to WNBA players currently, going so far as to call them "autocratic" and "anti-women".
"With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes. And they should have more than just one professional option in the US at a time when American pro sports leagues are being infiltrated by autocratic, anti-women regimes such as Qatar. Our pathbreaking offer to Caitlin Clark demonstrates that BIG3 now offers another choice for athletes."