You probably know the story by now: Ice Cube offered Iowa senior Caitlin Clark $5 million to join his BIG3 basketball league, a 3-on-3 league comprised primarily of former NBA players. She would earn the money for playing from eight to 10 3-on-3 games, depending on how her theoretical team fared during the season. That’s an incredible payday, one that could set the standard for future contracts signed by women athletes in the US—and, if Ice Cube has his way, abroad, too.
America’s women athletes should not be forced to spend their off seasons playing in often dismal and dubious foreign countries just to make ends meet.
— Ice Cube (@icecube) March 27, 2024
One can see Ice Cube’s offer as a publicity stunt, an attempt to increase interest in the BIG3 by capitalizing on Clark’s popularity. And that’s fine.
One can see the offer as a genuine and generous act that Ice Cube believes will elevate the salaries and status of women athletes in America. And that’s fine, too.
But it’s impossible to overlook the ignorant statement that he made about American players “often” having to move to “dismal and dubious foreign countries” in one of the follow-up tweets. He might have been referring to what happened to Brittney Griner, but the word “often”…
