Updated Timeline Revealed For Unrivaled's Caitlin Clark Pursuit
On November 19, the Unrivaled Women's Basketball League announced that they would be unveiling their rostered teams on November 20.
Some of their wording in this announcement — specifically them alluding to the number 22 multiple times, and making their roster release video 22 minutes long — had many within the women's basketball community convinced that Caitlin Clark (who wears No. 22 with the Fever) was going to be announced as an Unrivaled participant when the rosters were released on Wednesday.
Alas, the rosters have since been unveiled — and Clark was nowhere to be found.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that Clark won't be joining the league. There are still two "Wildcard" spots on two of Unrivaled's teams, which are almost certainly reserved for Clark if she does decide to play in Unrivaled this offseason.
It's no surprise that Unrivaled is essentially leaving a roster spot available for Clark. And based on a press release that was sent by Unrivaled PR representatives on Wednesday, it sounds like their pursuit to sign her is just getting started.
This press release (which announced the league rosters, some key dates on Unrivaled schedule, and some other noteworthy aspects), included, "The two Wildcard Positions – for Lunar Owls Basketball Club and Phantom Basketball Club, respectively – enable Unrivaled to continue pursuing the world’s premier players up to and even throughout the season."
This morning I received a press release from an #Unrivaled PR rep that wrote, “The two Wildcard positions… enable Unrivaled to continue pursuing the world’s premiere players up to and even through the season.”
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) November 20, 2024
Sounds like their CC pursuit is just getting started. pic.twitter.com/8z64LSoCNT
Therefore, it sounds like Unrivaled is willing to keep those two Wildcard roster spots available even during their season in case Clark decides last minute that she wants to be a part of the action.
Clearly the league is not giving up on women's basketball's biggest superstar quite yet.
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.