The recent 2024 WNBA report indicates major growth in several aspects, but Gilbert Arenas is in no mood to congratulate the league. It’s not as if the former Washington Wizards star does not care for the WNBA. But the fact the league, in his opinion, failed to recognize the factor that caused this growth bothers him. Notably, a major credit for the recent growth of the WNBA, as mentioned in its report, goes to fresh faces in the league like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
Appearing on the podcast, podcast co-host Josiah Johnson shared some of the key points from the report. As stated by him on the podcast, the report mentions the attendance to be up by 156% from last year. Meanwhile, other growth aspects include more than half of all WNBA games this year being sellouts, this year’s televised games averaging 1.32 million viewers, WNBA’s online merchandise store setting a single-season sales record, and many other aspects. But when asked, Gilbert Arenas refused to congratulate the league on any of these achievements.
“For what? They’re not happy about it, so what the f*ck… What are we congratulating?… We’re trying to congratulate them… The new stuff that’s going on, but for some reason, we’re having problems with it, so I’m not going to say anything,” Gil said. Notably, this reaction stems from the Caitlin Clark Olympics snub, which Gil earlier also protested.
USA Today via Reuters
Clark had herself confirmed the news in an interview with CNN, while stating this gives her “something to work for”. The reported players on the roster include Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Napheesa Collier, Kahleah Cooper, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Alyssa Thomas, and Jackie Young. Having supported the ex-Hawkeyes star in previous instances, too, it was obvious this move did not go well with Arenas.
Gilbert Arenas is an avid Caitlin Clark supporter
Gil had backed the 22-year-old during Chennedy Carter’s hard foul incident against Clark. While doing so, he pointed out how the former Iowa Hawkeyes star has impacted the revenue for the WNBA. Although he does not want other WNBA stars to praise her, the least he wants is no such incidents.
“The fact that you gotta take cheap shots… if you can’t just play defense and stop her the way you want, the fact that you gotta do things out of your character. If this is not your character, then you are angry about the situation. That’s the difference,” Gil said. Apart from this, when the news came out that the Fever rookie has not made it to the Olympics roster, Arenas was among the first ones to criticize this decision by the US Women’s basketball team. His argument was the selection committee should’ve considered the marketing factor during this decision.
“You’re saying millions of people will be mad if she doesn’t play a lot. Well, that means a million people won’t be viewing if she’s not on the team. Do you think you can sell more jerseys without her or with her?” he said on his show. Clark has been at the forefront of the league witnessing merchandise sale increase by 236% and single-handedly sold out all Fever jerseys when her draft was announced. She has also contributed to the league’s highest viewership of 2.3 million on her debut game and her franchise occupies five of the six highest views across different networks.
However, the selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti recently justified the move stating, including Clark just as a marketing move would’ve been “irresponsible”.
Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.
