Ice Cube and his fellow BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz believe that their offer to sign Caitlin Clark to their league was never presented to her as her agents are allegedly in cahoots with the NBA.
Last month, the California native offered the all-time NCAA leading scorer $5 million to play in his three-on-three basketball league, which would make her the first woman to do so. However, she was later picked by the Indiana Fever during the 2024 WNBA draft. Her four-year contract reportedly totals to approximately $338,000 (an average of about $84,500 a year).
In an open letter penned by Kwatinetz and shared on the N.W.A veteran’s website, the two accused the prodigy’s agents of working for the “NBA mob.”
“We have reason to believe these male agents and executives controlling the sport never even shared our trailblazing offer with Caitlin let alone facilitated Caitlin meeting with the BIG3 to discuss the opportunity,” it reads.
“From our perspective, these representatives don’t seem to work for an individual client like Caitlin. They seem to work for the NBA mob, as their client list is a who’s who of NBA players.
“Do we expect them to prioritize Caitlin over the NBA – the top employer of their most highly paid clients? The NBA commands by fear, and they make sure their industry of agents, lawyers, managers and networks stay in line. And that line is to prevent BIG3 success, even if it stunts the growth of women’s basketball. Amid current negotiations of critical NBA new media deals, you can imagine the pressure on the NBA feeder system easily trumps any of Caitlin’s or other promising woman players’ best interests.”
The public statement went on to describe the money she could have made by signing with BIG3, which would be far more than her current contract: “Ten million dollars of salary over two years, a percentage of team ownership worth millions, fifty percent of merchandising revenues from her name and likeness and ownership of a BIG3 documentary with a seven-figure advance. In total, we’re talking fifteen million dollars or more to merely play a ten-game season. While still allowing her to play in the WNBA.”
For her part, Clark appeared to brush off the BIG3 offer soon after it went viral online.
“To be honest, I found out about the Big3 thing at the exact time you all did, and my main focus is on just playing basketball,” she said.
“I honestly don’t talk about those things with really anybody. I have other people that deal with it, and they haven’t said a word to me about it. My main focus is on this team and helping us find a way to beat Colorado and hopefully win another one after that.”
