Unrivaled Sets the Record Straight on Caitlin Clark Recruitment Pursuit
Once news broke last week that Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark would be missing the rest of the 2025 WNBA season due to her being unable to recover from her groin and ankle injuries in time, fans lamented the fact that they'd probably need to wait until May before seeing Clark compete in a game again.
However, many quickly realized that this wasn't necessarily the case. While they'd need to wait that long before Clark is playing for her Fever WNBA squad, there's a chance that No. 22 could take her talents to South Beach and play in the Unrivaled 3x3 league's 2026 season.
Unrivaled's inaugural season was in 2025 and saw a ton of success. Most of the world's best women's basketball players took part in the league, but Clark (along with A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum) was notably absent, despite Unrivaled's repeated attempts to convince her to join.
Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell (who is the husband of Unrivaled co-founder and Minnesota Lynx WNBA MVP candidate, Napheesa Collier) spoke with Ben Pickman of The Athletic in a September 8 article and was asked about whether there has been talk of Clark taking part in the league during its second season.
“There’s no current dialogue taking place right now,” Bazzell said about discussions with Clark. “Everyone knows that we want the best players. Everyone knows that if they’re interested, we always have spots."
Unrivaled President Clarifies Comments on Caitlin Clark Rrecruitment
Bazzell was also interviewed by ESPN's Kendra Andrews for a September 10 article. And at one point, he sent another clear message about how far he and his league will go to bring Clark on board for 2026.
"Unrivaled has signed 90% of its rosters for next season and will begin to announce its slate of players at the end of the month. The big question is if it will add top talent that did not participate in the inaugural season, such as Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum," Andrews wrote.
"There is always an ongoing dialogue," Bazzell is then quoted as saying. "There is no secret who the top players in the world are, and they know we have a spot for them. But we are not knocking down doors or chasing people down. I feel good about where our rosters stand."
Unrivaled said girl we not chasing nobody down 🤣 pic.twitter.com/kJvGkAD8UJ
— JussSports (@jusshoops) September 10, 2025
In other words, Bazzell seems to be saying that Clark knows where to find them if she wants to participate, and it will ultimately be up to her as to whether she joins.
One would imagine that Clark's ultimate answer will arrive in the next month or two.
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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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