Following the 2025 WNBA season's record for 2.5 million fans in attendance for the 2025 regular season, one NBA star offered his take on Caitlin Clark's effect on it all.

While in conversation with Monica McNutt on the Roommates Show, Brunson talked about all the viewers Caitlin Clark brought to the sport.

"We've had stars in the league... Obviously, Caitlin brings a lot to the game, right? Brings viewers to the game. I just feel like [Clark] brings a whole new demographic to watch the games, and I feel like it has grown."

After Clark joined the league back in 2024, she was found to be responsible for 26.5% of all of the WNBA's economic activity in the year. And this year, she's the highest-paid WNBA athlete, largely due to the endorsement she has from brands like Nike. But that's not all.

Just consider the viewership numbers. The Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky game on June 23, 2024, raked in 3.3 million viewers, turning it into the highest-watched WNBA game in over two decades.

But as Jalen Brunson agreed, Caitlin Clark wasn't alone in bringing the numbers

Now, while the WNBA added an expansion team on the back of the monumental 2024 season, 2025 showed that the league could carry itself without the basketball phenom.

Clark was out of it for most of the season, but it didn't affect viewership numbers too much. In fact, fans saw a 6% rise (1.3 million) in the regular season and a 5% rise (1.2 million viewers) in the postseason, pointing at a healthy overall rise.

As the 2025 MVP A'ja Wilson noted, "The biggest thing for us, and why I was so happy, is that we continue to rise to the occasion. This was just a matter of time for us to really bloom and blossom. Because we have been invested in each other and our craft for a very long time. It was just like, ‘They’re going to pay attention.’"

Written by

Fatema Kapasi

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar