WNBA on ION Omitting Caitlin Clark From Pre-Game Banner Despite Paige Bueckers’ Presence Angers Fans – “Like Choosing Luc Longley Instead of Jordan”

Young superstars Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers routinely draw millions of fans when playing against each other.

WNBA on ION Omitting Caitlin Clark From Pre-Game Banner Despite Paige Bueckers’ Presence Angers Fans – “Like Choosing Luc Longley Instead of Jordan”

Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark (Image via Paige Kevin Jairaj/Chris/X)

Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever turned their two-game losing streak into a two-game winning run. To continue it, she will have to will her team to a win over Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings.

The two back-to-back No. 1 overall picks, and close friends, have been pitted as rivals. Even though they laugh it off and continue to joke around when outside the purview of cameras, there is no doubt that both are extremely competitive and want to win.

In the middle of the season, the Wings were one of the best teams in the league. But of late, their performance has suffered due to injuries to Azzi Fudd and Jessica Shepard.

Even then, they are not to be taken lightly, simply because of Bueckers’ presence along with other stellar players. Therefore, this was a marquee matchup between two teams fighting to climb up the playoff ladder.

Whenever the two superstars meet, the broadcasting network tends to draw in millions of viewers. Therefore, WNBA on Ion, one of the broadcasters that inked a massive deal with the league to continue as a media rights partner, should be promoting this game in every possible way.

The network’s pre-game social media banner did showcase two of the Dallas Wings’ best players, Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale. But when it came to the Fever side, they put up Lexie Hull and Raven Johnson.

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Fans tear into WNBA on Ion for purposefully omitting Caitlin Clark and Fever stars

As soon as this banner was posted, fans quickly noticed how WNBA on Ion deliberately made the matchup about Paige Bueckers and Lexie Hull. Their caption suggested that the ‘stars are shining in Indy.’

Fans wondered how the network thought that Hull and Raven Johnson, both backup players who do not play more than a few minutes, were stars when the Fever has three All-Stars in Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston on its roster.

They questioned whether this was a deliberate attempt at promoting Bueckers, or whether the network’s social media staff that incompetent to omit the home team’s biggest names. Check out examples of those reactions below.

Had Azzi Fudd played, this game would have been a battle between the WNBA’s last four first-overall picks. Fans questioned why WNBA on Ion at least did not lean into that aspect, with three of them playing.

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WNBA and its media partners are repeatedly missing the mark on Caitlin Clark

To fans, this seems like a deliberate attempt at undermining Caitlin Clark’s impact. They felt that this tendency starts with the Commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, who famously claimed to Napheesa Collier that the Fever guard ‘should be thankful for the WNBA.’

Clark is the WNBA's biggest draw
Clark is the WNBA’s biggest draw (Image via Fever/X)

Its media rights partners have been accused of intentionally leaning towards other players, but so far the proof has not been accurate enough to make those charges stick. But WNBA on Ion’s post was a clear indication that, from the top down, the league wants to intentionally avoid focusing on one player.

Surprisingly, its parent organization, the NBA, does not feel that way. They also try to promote its younger players, knowing their veteran superstars will retire sometime soon. However, that did not stop Commissioner Adam Silver from indirectly declaring that LeBron James is still the de facto Face of the league.

Time and again, some members of the media have asked the WNBA to embrace Caitlin Clark in a similar fashion. But so far, it seems that they have decided not to.

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