Lisa Leslie Says Quiet Part Out Loud About WNBA GMs' Caitlin Clark Snub
One polarizing aspect of the sports community is that it can be a, "What have you done for me lately?" business.
In other words, because attention spans are often so short and so much can happen within a brief amunt of time, fans and other people within the community often predicate their opinions about what has happened most recently, rather than taking a longer-term vantage point.
One example of this regards Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. Since she missed most of the 2025 WNBA season, some people have already forgotten about her generational talent, or the many records she broke during her rookie 2024 campaign.
Surprisingly enough to Clark's fans, one example of this showing up was in the annual 2026 WNBA GM survey, where all of the league's GMs are asked and then anonymously vote on over 40 questions about the upcoming season.
One of the questions was, "If you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the WNBA, who would it be?" Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers received the most votes out of anyone, getting 33%. Clark and A'ja Wilson were tied at second place, with 20%.
This represents a stark shift from last year's survey, when Clark getting 50% of the votes was the most out of all players.
Lisa Leslie Points Out Problem With WNBA GMs Picking Paige Bueckers Over Caitlin Clark
Many Clark fans have been quick to point out that this result is strange, if only because Clark's exceptional star power generates a ton of money for her franchise, which makes her objectively more valuable (and therefore a more likely pick for who a GM would want to start a franchise with).
WNBA legend Lisa Leslie echoed this sentiment during her May 14 appearance on "First Take".
When asked her reaction to the GM vote, Leslie said, "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 ha—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," per an X post from @_girltalk.
"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 and asked Stephen A. Smith, who echoed Leslie's sentiment and also said that "of course" he would take Clark over Bueckers.
Lisa Leslie on the GM poll choosing Paige over Caitlin to start a franchise:
— allison (@_girltalk) May 14, 2026
“All those GMs are p gonna get fired because this is a money business, and the $$$ is about Caitlin Clark. Never before have we had a player force teams to go to bigger arenas… I’m going with CC.” pic.twitter.com/skXdg7ZDPU
Props to Leslie for being so willing to speak her opinion. Many others in her position probably wouldn't do the same, even if they agreed with her stance.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
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.
Follow GrvntYoung