Caitlin Clark’s $350K Favor to Dave Portnoy Sparks Bold Claim From Barstool Founder: “She’d Put WNBA Out of Business”

“I told you it’s Caitlin Season.” Dave Portnoy had already made a bold prediction ahead of the 2025 WNBA season. An unapologetic Caitlin Clark fan, he is banking it all on the Indiana Fever and their star player. Quite literally, too. After saying the team is the one to beat, Portnoy bet big on the opening game. Well, he got the returns in bold, and now, it seems to have boosted his case in delivering a warning to the league.

The Barstool founder loves to take chances on his predictions. So, when the bet for Caitlin Clark’s triple-double was on, he put in $25,000. Clark’s 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 93-58 blowout victory over the Sky handed him a $350,000 payout. Yeah, he was pleased with it. It may have doubled his trust in CC as well. But that’s not the only way he is showing his support for Clark.

You see, when the WNBA announced an investigation for ‘racial slur’ at the Gainbridge Arena during the Fever vs Sky game, Dave stepped up for the 2024 ROTY. Although CC is not directly involved in it and rather condemned such behavior, a few tried to involve her name in the incident. Especially when the ‘said’ incident took place during Angel Reese’s free throw attempts following a hard foul by Caitlin. With all the drama going around the Indiana Fever franchise and Caitlin’s name getting dragged into it, Dave Portnoy has a special warning for the WNBA.

“You know what’s crazy. If Caitlin Clark just woke up one morning and decided she was sick of the WNBA shit and decided to start her own league” he wrote on ‘X’, “which wouldn’t be that difficult with her star power she’d put the WNBA out of business in 2 years.”

Yes, it’s like 2024 for CC again. We have had rumors of CC leaving the league and going to Europe to play basketball. But those turned out to be false calls. On the court, Caitlin started the 2025 season where she had left off – making big plays, scoring crucial points for her side, and impacting the game. But as per Dave, the ‘hate’ is still there.

He even thrashed the WNBA’s decision to investigate. “Can’t believe I’m making this video,” Portnoy said in a rant on social media. “Today I see online, starting last night, just salty trolls, and I don’t even know actually if they’re just Chicago Sky fans, I think they’re just trolls. They’re people who just hate Caitlin Clark.” He was at the game and mentioned that the claims are ‘total garbage, totally made up.’

While the league is taking the right step with Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever, and Angel Reese, all pledging their support, a few do believe the WNBA could have handled it better. Instead of declaring an investigation publicly, the league should have proceeded on the matters quietly. As Rachel DeMita puts it, the whole situation is just drawing away the focus from the game. So there comes the demand for transparency. “What I absolutely need from the WNBA is for them to come out and say exactly what they found, exactly what they were investigating, and where that came from,” she says.

DeMita, too, wants the league to dig into the lies that may have surfaced on social media first. The misinformation isn’t serving any right purposes, fueling the hate further. CC, though, remains detached from it. She has made clear she knows to differentiate between trolls and fans, and isn’t letting that negativity seep in. So whatever claim Portnoy may make, the 2024 ROTY is far from leaving the league. But if she were him or WNBA wouldn’t be the only ones losing money over her.

Bookmakers are finding it difficult to find Caitlin Clark’s ceiling

No. 1 pick of the 2024 WNBA draft entered the league with massive hype. Following Caitlin’s popularity during her collegiate career, the star’s entry into W was a huge step for the league itself. At the same time, it was a massive betting chip for betting websites too.

“NCAA women’s hoops was up 14x by handle year over year at DraftKings,” according to a company spokesman. “We’ve seen steady growth in engagement with the WNBA as well. We’ll see what Clark brings to the table.” These were the comments well before CC made her WNBA debut. This is not just a number, but shows how powerful the ‘Caitlin Clark effect’ is.

“I think the Caitlin Clark effect is worth a minimum of 25% in handle, and I’m gauging that on just increased eyes on the product,” said longtime bookmaker (and big-time WNBA fan) Robert Walker. “The number of tickets will skyrocket, but the handle is hard to gauge because WNBA is limited to begin with. No one’s taking $50,000 bets on the WNBA, plus a lot of the industry keeps kicking people out, so there’s a few factors that conspire against the total, but ticket volume will go through the roof.”

This was said in 2024, and just a season later, Dave Portnoy proved it wrong. He placed $50,000 on Caitlin Clark making 13+ assists in the second game of the season. Though he lost that bet, after Caitlin Clark’s 27 points, 11 assists game against the Dream, he already made a massive coup in the opening game with her triple-double odds.

Talking particularly about Caitlin Clark, the bookmakers have already mentioned that it’s getting difficult to match her ceiling. The star is regularly putting up high numbers, and the system is adjusting to it.

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