“You didn’t do enough. You let everybody down,” is what A’ja Wilson thought to herself after they lost the 2020 WNBA finals 3-0 to the Seattle Storm. Can you believe it? Disappointment after reaching the finals—that’s what standards look like. Of course, she’s had her share of on-court success; the two time WNBA champion is a 3-time league MVP, after all. But now, it’s her time to shine off the court.

Wilson’s new Nike A’One sneaker and the accompanying apparel line have been a long time coming. After the announcement last year, there has been growing hype around the shoe. The two-time WNBA champion worked with Nike footwear designer Ben Nethongkome to create the A’One, and the company even released a theme song featuring Wilson.

Nike released her shoe on May 6, and people couldn’t get enough of them.  The ad, coupled with Wilson’s star power, seems to have worked wonders. Upon release, the shoes sold out before you could snap your fingers. Well, maybe not, but it was still extremely quick. Four minutes, yes, four minutes is all it took for Nike to put up a ‘come back later’ sign.

A’ja Wilson obviously deserves her own shoe. She has grinded through tough moments and boasts a CV at 28 years that most players would crave: three WNBA MVP trophies, two WNBA Defensive Player of the Year titles, and six WNBA All-Star appearances. Wilson will also be getting her own apparel line to accompany the A’One. It includes a sateen-lined hoodie, the A’Symmetric one-legged sleeve, and a Calm Slide in the same pink hue as the A’One. The hoodie honors her mother, who didn’t want the superstar wearing bonnets in the airport.

Meanwhile, it seems Nike has dropped the ball with respect to one of their other stars, Caitlin Clark. Clark is probably the most hyped player regardless of gender right now, but the marketing efforts from Nike have been minimal. She signed an 8-year, $28 million endorsement deal with Nike in April last year, and the first thing fans asked for was her own shoe.

But, there have been delays. According to reports, A’ja Wilson’s shoe was prioritized over Clark’s because preferring rookies over veterans would have ‘upset them,’ according to NBA agent Nate Jones. But a no-show at the fabled homecoming in Iowa? That was a very surprising move. Her boyfriend, Connor McCaffrey, even took a dig at the brand by retweeting a sarcastic post from X user @caitisland that read: “.@Nike yall don’t got internet or what?”.  

Clark was back in her hometown, and the very stadium where she played college basketball in, and the storylines in this game were crazy. A missed opportunity? The CEO has already announced that they are, in fact, working on the shoe, but where is it? No updates on the release, no first design, nothing. Fans are thirsty for news; some even want to avoid buying the A’ja Wilson shoe in order to wait for Clark’s.

Despite not getting her own shoe, what Clark is getting are Nike Kobe 5 and 6 Protro PEs later this year. To be clear, “PE” stands for “Player Exclusive,” which means that Clark got to customize her own version of these pre-existing shoes. Jones expressed his disappointment, writing, “By far the biggest/most box office athlete in the women’s game having 2 PEs for another signature line instead of her own signature line is exhibit A of why Nike is a mess. Caitlin is lightning in a bottle. You expedite a signature!”

Nike’s delay of her shoes makes no business sense. The brand will hopefully correct its mistake sooner rather than later and give the fans what they want.

Caitlin Clark’s preseason game draws more than a million viewers

The hype for Caitlin Clark is currently at an all-time high; she returned to her hometown for a preseason game against Brazil and lit up the court. Missing the first game against the Mystics with an injury, there were some doubts regarding her participation, but she couldn’t disappoint her parents. Could she?

With her friends and parents in the sold-out crowd, Clark made a return to the court. It drew almost 15,000 people to the stadium and broke all viewership records for a preseason game streamed on ESPN. The game averaged 1.3 million viewers, with people tuning in to watch the magician from Iowa. This number is more than any NBA preseason game on ESPN since 2018, and only two preseason games have had more viewership since 2010. Both of those involved the king, LeBron James. The games in question? The one in 2017 when his Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Chicago Bulls after a Finals loss, and another in 2018 during his debut preseason with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Indiana’s dominating win was the 34th WNBA telecast in the past year to average a seven-figure audience, with Clark having been involved in 26. Prior to Clark being drafted last year, no WNBA telecast had attracted a million viewers since 2008. Clark is already rubbing shoulders with one of the greatest players of all time.