Barstool's Dave Portnoy Blasts Caitlin Clark's 'Dumbest' Nike Contract
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is an unabashed fan of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, which has been made extremely clear over the past several years.
Not only is Portnoy constantly posting about Clark on social media and even showing up to Fever games wearing her jersey, but it seems that his Clark fandom has also turned him into a bigger fan of the WNBA and all of women's basketball.
Well, perhaps "fan" isn't the right word. Portnoy is certainly paying much more attention to women's basketball than he did before Clark came around, but this means he is more in tune with what's wrong with the WNBA and its flaws right now. And because Portnoy has never been one to mince words, he has been very outspoken about several aspects of the league and how it's run that he doesn't see eye-to-eye with.
Dave Portnoy Puts Caitlin Clark's Nike Contract on Blast
Portnoy is a shrewd businessman who can recognize a good and a bad deal from a mile away. This is why it was fascinating to hear him criticize Caitlin Clark's Nike contract during his October 2 appearance on Rachel DeMita's Courtside Club podcast.
"I don't care what the league did 10 years ago, or five years ago. That doesn't matter, and that doesn't matter in any negotiation," Portnoy said. "[The WNBA is making money] now, and you have to take advantage of it now, and that's how it works."
After noting that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is always going to take the brunt of how NBA owners feel, and that there's no way of knowing how much the WNBA makes because its revenue is mixed in with the NBA, Portnoy added, "I wrote an article when Caitlin signed her Nike deal. Like instantly, I'm like, 'This is the dumbest [contract].'
"I wish I was her agent. Like, she got screwed. And she did," Portnoy continued. "If you look back at it, the power of her, and when her shoe comes out, we'll see what the sales are. They're paying Devin Booker $40 million a year... In what universe is Devin Booker worth $40 million per year, and Caitlin is worth $8 [million]?"
Why @stoolpresidente thinks Caitlin Clark's Nike contract is a joke pic.twitter.com/1iUKBFHo50
— Courtside Club (@CourtsideClub_) October 5, 2025
Portnoy has a fair point about Clark's Nike contract, especially in the way that he compares is to NBA superstar Devin Booker (who Clark undoubtedly is more popular than).
But it's too late for Clark to change anything about her current Nike contract now.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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