WNBA’s Latest Caitlin Clark Spelling Mistake Sparks Familiar Frustration

The WNBA's social media account can't stop botching Caitlin Clark's name.
Sep 30, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts from the bench after a play made by the Las Vegas Aces during the fourth quarter of game five of the second round for the 2025 WNBA Playoffs at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Sep 30, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts from the bench after a play made by the Las Vegas Aces during the fourth quarter of game five of the second round for the 2025 WNBA Playoffs at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The WNBA's official social media accounts got a lot of criticism for how they handled Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark during her rookie 2024 campaign.

Clark's massive fan base felt frustrated that these social media accounts seemed reluctant to post, feature, or otherwise highlight No. 22 as often as other superstars, or at least as much as her stardom deserved.

While it might be unfair to blame the entire league because of content decisions that one employee (or even intern) might be making, the bottom line is that there was a lot of frustration about the shine Clark was receiving from @WNBA.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) on the sideline on September 14, 2025
Sep 14, 2025; College Park, Georgia, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) on the sideline against the Atlanta Dream in the first quarter during game one of round one for the 2025 WNBA Playoffs at Gateway Center Arena at College Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

And it wasn't just about the shine she was or was not getting. There were several instances of Clark's name getting misspelled by this account, including when they released the All-WNBA teams with a social media graphic on October 16, 2024. Clark's name was spelled "Cailtin Clark", and the graphic had placed the Los Angeles Sparks logo above A'ja Wilson, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces.

While this can't be chalked up to the WNBA's social media account, another instance of this was with an on-screen graphic that was displayed during the May 17 broadcast of the Seattle Storm vs. Phoenix Mercury game.

The graphic wrote Clark's name as "Caitlyn Clark". It also misspelled Napheesa Collier's name, writing, "Naphessa Collier".

WNBA Botches Caitlin Clark's Name Once Again

No further misspellings of Clark's name occurred (at were at least caught and went viral) for the rest of the 2025 season after that mistake in May. However, the @WNBA X account fumbled Clark's name once again with a November 6 poll that asked, "Which player set the rookie record for the most AST in a single season in WNBA history with 337 AST?"

The top vote-getter by far (and the correct answer) was, "Cailtin Clark," with 95.7% of votes.

Perhaps the account should get some credit for clearly curating a post that was meant to give Clark some shine. But it really isn't that hard to spell the biggest women's basketball star in the sport's history's name correctly, especially given that they've made this exact same spelling mistake (and gotten called out for it) in the past.

Plenty of fans are calling the account out for this misspelling. However, the tone feels more tired and frustrated than outright angry, as if these fans had almost come to expect another one of these mistakes.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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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