WNBA Shock: Caitlin Clark Reacts Harshly to Project B — The Truth That Shocked the Basketball World!.P1

In a development rattling the fast-growing landscape of women’s basketball, Caitlin Clark has once again made her priorities unmistakably clear — and this time, the spotlight is on Project B, the ambitious new 5×5 international league aiming to reshape the sport. Despite previous reports that Clark rejected offers to join both seasons of Unrivaled, her stance on Project B remained a mystery — until this week. During Thursday’s episode of her Show Me Something podcast, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham revealed that she personally pitched the league to Clark. The answer was blunt, instant, and absolute: “No.”

And while some fans may have been hoping for a dramatic plot twist, insiders say her refusal is anything but shocking. For months, Clark has insisted that her sole focus is the WNBA — and specifically, the Indiana Fever — a stance that has only hardened after she missed most of the 2025 season due to injury. Financial motivations aren’t in play either. According to Sportico’s latest rankings, Clark is now the 6th highest-paid female athlete in the world, the only non-tennis star in the top tier, with endorsements that place her comfortably above the need for supplemental international league income.

Instead, her eyes appear locked on a different stage: USA Basketball. She has been named to the roster assembling this month in Durham, North Carolina, though it remains unclear whether she is fully recovered and cleared for return. Should she participate, the training camp would mark her official re-entry into 5×5 competition — a pivotal milestone toward competing in the 2026 qualifier tournaments, and eventually reclaiming her full-time role with the Fever.

But the path back to the WNBA floor isn’t hers alone to determine. The league itself is bracing for structural turmoil, with contract negotiations threatening to reshape — or delay — the 2026 season entirely. The WNBA and the players’ union remain locked in tense discussions over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, with both sides recently agreeing to a critical 40-day extension that pushes the deadline to January 9. That extension alone is already causing ripple effects: the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, the league’s newest franchises, are now likely unable to hold their Expansion Drafts this month. Their plans hang in limbo because Expansion Draft rules are tied directly to CBA terms.

At the heart of the negotiation gridlock is one of the most contentious issues in modern women’s sports: revenue sharing. Under the current agreement, players receive a portion of any revenue that exceeds a defined threshold — but since the deal was signed in early 2020, right before COVID-19 pummeled league finances, that threshold has never been met. Not a single dollar of extra revenue has ever been distributed to players, frustrating veterans and amplifying calls for a system overhaul.

As for Clark, her “no” to Project B may read as a simple decision, but the larger landscape suggests something much bigger. The world’s most influential young basketball star is quietly positioning herself for a seismic return — one that could collide directly with the WNBA’s most pivotal negotiation year in decades. And when she finally steps back onto the court, the question isn’t just where she will play — but what kind of league she’ll be returning to.