NBA legend Kenyon Martin expresses reservations about $3.1 million NIL-valued Caitlin Clark's future in Big3 League: "She will not score"
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark has been the subject of a wave of discourse over the past day after it emerged that she was offered an eye-watering $5 million to play in rapper Ice Cube's Big3 league.
The $3.1 million NIL-valued Clark (as per On3) has blitzed the record books this season and is amid a push for the national title before she departs for the WNBA.
Former NBA player Kenyon Martin was skeptical about the popular Clark's suitability for the Big3 basketball league and made a shocking claim on a recent episode of "Gil's Arena."
"Could you imagine her being matched up and Reggie guarding her, for one?" Martin said. "For two, this being 3-on-3, she can’t hide nowhere. Guard Reggie Evans out that mother---er. No, she will not score. She would not score one… It’s 3-on-3, she can’t hide nowhere."
The main argument is that the record-breaking Caitlin Clark, at 6 feet and weighing just 155 pounds, would not cut it in a league populated by former NBA pros, exclusively male, with the physical advantage over the Iowa star.
Podcast host and former NBA player Gilbert Arenas agreed with the point made by Kenyon Martin.
Arenas also discussed the style of play and outlined why Clark wouldn’t be successful in a league full of former NBA players.
“She gonna take the ball out?” Gilbert said. “As soon as she tries to cross that line – boom! Yo’ little a**.”
The Caitlin Clark effect continues to snowball
The Caitlin Clark effect does not seem to have a ceiling, as it has gone from strength to strength this season, with the Iowa Hawkeyes star smashing every record available.
According to Sports Media Watch, the Iowa Hawkeyes clash against the No. 8 seeded West Virginia Mountaineers drew 4.9 million television viewers, the highest number of viewers before the Final Four in the history of the women's tournament.
The latest offer by Ice Cube to play in the 3-on-3 Big3 league has shown the popular Clark's reach as she is considered the perfect candidate to be a trailblazer in women's basketball and people are willing to pay for those services.
The $5 million fee that she would make in Big3 would take her several years to earn in the WNBA.
All eyes will be on Caitlin Clark to see whether she will accept the revolutionary offer that would break glass ceilings for women's basketball, and possibly launch the Big3 league as a major basketball force.