Following the infamous general managers’ survey, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie gave her stamp of approval to Caitlin Clark over the rest of the league.

In the annual GM survey, Paige Bueckers received 33% of the vote to Clark’s 20% in response to the question, “If you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the WNBA, who would it be?” That represented a stark change from last year, when Clark received 50% of the vote.

During a May 14 appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Leslie disagreed with the result. "Well, all those GMs [are] probably gonna get fired, because this is a money business. And the money is about Caitlin Clark, who's a player who has—never in the history of the WNBA, have we had a player force teams to get into larger arenas. I've never seen that happen," she said.

"If you're the GM, you're obviously supposed to be bringing in money. That's revenue. I’m going with Caitlin Clark," Leslie added.

She then turned to Stephen A. Smith, who shared Leslie's sentiment and said that "of course" he would take Clark over Bueckers.

There is no denying Clark’s influence on the league at this point. She broke multiple records as a rookie, and the league has seen a massive bump in revenue.

Moreover, the Indiana Fever is the only team to have all 44 of their regular-season games nationally televised, with 39 of them being played in NBA-sized arenas — thanks to the Caitlin Clark effect.

In the season opener alone, Gainbridge Fieldhouse hosted a sold-out crowd, while ESPN reported that the game between the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings averaged 2.5 million viewers on ABC. It was the second-highest regular-season viewership on record.

But it took just one season for the managers to forget her value. Clark suffered an injury-riddled sophomore season with the Fever, playing only 13 games after a series of lower-body injuries. Her season ended before the Fever qualified for the playoffs.

Leslie, however, was not one to change her stance on Clark’s brilliance. The Hall of Famer also looked back two years to support Clark in the debate surrounding the 2024 Paris Olympics controversy.

Lisa Leslie Believes Team USA Missed a Big Opportunity with Caitlin Clark

Leslie praised Caitlin Clark during her appearance on First Take. Revisiting one of the most polarizing discussions from Clark’s rookie year, Leslie said Team USA should have included the star on its roster for the trip to Paris.

“I don’t know how we left the country without her,” Leslie said. “She’s a game changer. She’s moved the needle in a way that we had not seen in women’s basketball before. I thought she not necessarily earned a spot but deserved to be there.”

While Team USA secured the gold medal, many in the basketball world believe that Clark’s incredible drawing power and popularity as a rookie should have earned her a place on the team.

In this year’s WNBA offseason, Clark made her Team USA debut during the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. During Team USA’s 5-0 sweep of its opponents, Clark earned MVP honors after returning from injury.

That success has only intensified retrospective conversations about whether she should have been part of the Paris Olympic roster from the beginning.

Do you believe that Caitlin Clark should have been included in Team USA's Paris Olympics plans as a rookie?

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Written by

Joy Bassy

Edited by

Sahil Prashar