Caitlin Clark winning the WNBA MVP award would be another landmark achievement for the Indiana Fever star. However, it could also create a major salary-cap challenge for the franchise.
WNBA analyst Rachel A. DeMita believes the league’s new collective bargaining agreement could make it increasingly difficult for Indiana to keep Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell together beyond this season.
How a Caitlin Clark MVP award could affect the Fever
The three stars have become central to the Fever’s resurgence, but their individual success could make retaining the team’s core significantly more expensive.
DeMita explained the potential financial issue in a post shared by Courtside Club.
“So Aliyah Boston is on her EPIC contract, and again this is part of the new CBA, so Aliyah Boston unlocked this maximum contract deal – the supermax deal essentially during her 4th season because of how the new CBA rules are,” DeMita said.
“Now, Caitlin Clark will also be eligible for a max contract next season. Because of this provision, she will be eligible for a supermax contract if she wins MVP this season. Kelsey Mitchell is also on a max contract deal. So with that math and what we’ve kind of all been talking about for the season, why I have been saying for the Fever, it’s championship or bust, because you have three supermax-eligible players, or at least max-eligible players for the squad next year.”
That possibility could force Indiana to make difficult roster decisions, even if the franchise’s preferred option is to keep its core intact.
Can Indiana keep Clark, Boston and Mitchell together?
DeMita believes the central question is whether the Fever can fit all three stars into their future salary structure.
“And I’m just not sure if they have the salary cap, if they have the space to be able to do that for Kelsey, Caitlin, and Aliyah Boston. But after how they’ve performed this season, you’d probably want to keep those three together, specifically Caitlin and Kelsey because they have proven to be the best backcourt, maybe ever, in the WNBA. And so it’s just one of those things – things are gonna start getting really interesting because of this new CBA,” she added.
As a result, Clark’s MVP campaign could have implications far beyond the individual award.
If she wins, Indiana could eventually have to accommodate three players deserving of major contracts at the same time. The Fever have built their current success around Clark, Boston and Mitchell, but keeping that trio together could become one of the franchise’s biggest challenges.
Source: www.marca.com
