Ice Cube goes in-depth on his $5 million offer to Caitlin Clark
Ice Cube offered Iowa women’s basketball star Cailtin Clark a $5 million deal to join the BIG3 basketball league and he went in depth on his reasoning.
Ice Cube’s league has been around for a bit and features three-on-three games. While it’s a male dominated league, there are female head coaches who’ve had championship success.
Once the news became public, Ice Cube explained why he made the offer.
“We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship,” Ice Cube wrote on Twitter in a thread. “But I won’t deny what’s now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3.
“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 two. With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes.”
When you look at the WNBA, which is financed by the NBA, players often don’t make as much money as they are potentially worth. That’s why there was speculation all year that Clark could use her final year of eligibility at Iowa in 2024-25 and potentially make more money in college through NIL.
Not only that, a handful of female players take their talents overseas for larger paydays to play professional basketball. Ice Cube wanted to break the bold with someone like Clark and keep her stateside.
“America’s women athletes should not be forced to spend their off seasons playing in often dismal and dubious foreign countries just to make ends meet,” Ice Cube wrote. “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.”
According to On3’s own NIL valuation, Clark is currently worth $3.1 million just as a college hooper. Ice Cube’s deal would be a nearly-double increase on that figure, should she choose to give it a try.
But that NIL money wouldn’t go anywhere, either, as the Big3 will reportedly provide “substantial additional compensation” through endorsements and merchandising.
Now, on to the crucial issue here. According to the TMZ report, since the Big3 commitment is only 10 total games at the most, it “would allow her to also play in the WNBA.”
Clark declared for the WNBA draft earlier this season and will try to go out a national champion with Iowa.