In recent years, the WNBA has experienced unprecedented growth in popularity, yet there is still much more space for expansion when compared to other sports. That is never more clear than in the case of Paige Bueckers, the rookie for the Dallas Wings who has had one of the best debut seasons in WNBA history.
In addition to her incredible play on the court, Bueckers has a lively, engaging attitude off the court that has led to some memorable recent encounters with Shemar Moore and Kyrie Irving.
In the latest episode of their A Touch More podcast, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe explored why Bueckers hasn’t received the same kind of attention as Clark, and they had some excellent comments.
Sue Bird Blames Major Media Networks for Paige Bueckers’ Lack of Popularity
Rapinoe concurred with what Bird said, saying: “I think Paige is really popular,” “I think she’s really popular too, but like in a different kind of way.”
“What I would say that I’m noticing that’s lacking for not just Paige, but honestly everyone in the WNBA, including Caitlin, I know she’s not playing right now, but really the WNBA in general, is … there’s all these articles on men’s sports, and there’s one WNBA article.”
“Where is the more?”. “We have now earned more. We all know there’s the media coverage pie that we only had 4% at one point, now it’s up to 15, 16%, which is great. And now it’s like, we’re all wanting more, we’re wanting to be 20%, 25%, so on.”
“I think at times when people say, ‘Paige should have more,’ they think that means taking away from Caitlin, and it doesn’t,”
“Caitlin deserves everything she gets .. and Paige deserves more, and Angel Reese deserves more, and A’ja [Wilson], and [Napheesa Collier]. And the WNBA deserves more.”
Rapinoe used a clever term when he referred to Clark as “a shooting star.” Shooting stars are uncommon, and Clark was the driving force behind women’s basketball’s surge in popularity, which has been dubbed “The Caitlin Clark effect.” That was the perception at one point, but Bueckers’ college career was cut short by injuries, which made Clark the most popular player in the game.
