Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and WNBA hopefuls light up the Empire State Building ahead of the draft in Brooklyn as commissioner boasts ‘everyone is talking women’s basketball!’
Among the clusters of tour groups and sightseers in midtown Manhattan on Monday morning was a conspicuously tall ensemble of young women being escorted into the Empire State Building.
They could have been mistaken for a bachelorette party, given their matching orange sweatshirts and frequent outbursts of laughter, but the crowd gathering outside on 34th street knew better: These were the WNBA hopefuls storming the city on a media tour en route to Monday night’s draft in Brooklyn.
Fresh off her appearance on Saturday Night Live and interview with NBC’s Today, Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark was joined by South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso for the traditional lighting ceremony. Just eight days earlier, it was Cardoso’s Gamecocks who beat Clark’s Hawkeyes in a national championship watched by an average of 18.7 million viewers — about four million more than the men’s game.
Yes, the men’s game suffered somewhat for being on cable while the women were on national television, but Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese and a growing number of female players have become more recognizable than their male counterparts.
And nowhere was that more obvious on Monday than in midtown Manhattan, where a gaggle of young girls had gathered in hopes of catching their newfound heroes in person.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark appears at the Empire State Building ahead of Monday’s WNBA Draft
Angel Reese flashes a smile to photographers on the 86th-floor observation deck of the ESB
WNBA hopefuls appear with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert: Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson and Angel Reese among others
Caitlin Clark (left) and Kamilla Cardoso (right) light the Empire State Building in Orange
The women did decline all interview requests, or rather, they took off before any interviews could even take place. But that’s understandable — and even forgivable — given the media gauntlet they’ve been running since the beginning of March.
More than anyone, Clark appeared ready for the circus to be over. She wasn’t rude or anything, but the exhaustion of the last month appeared to be catching up with her as she dropped her head into her hands during a few candid moments. After all, this entire day is strictly ceremonial to a player who is assured of being picked first overall by the Indiana Fever.
After lighting the building’s famed antenna in orange, the WNBA’s signature color, the 6-foot Iowa native and her future WNBA rivals climbed aboard a fleet of elevators to travel up to the 86th-floor observation deck.
Like so many other celebrities before them, the players were asked to pose with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. Some, like 6-foot-4 Stanford star Cameron Brink, embraced the moment with a few selfies.
Reese, a 2023 national champion known as Bayou Barbie, jumped at the chance to pose in front of the coin-operated viewer, which prompted calls for other players to follow suit.
South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso smiles for the camera hours before the WNBA Draft
Clark also took part, but when photographers had snapped a few shots, the country’s most famous college basketball player was quick to clap her hands together and announced it was time to leave.
Others wanted to savor the moment — most notably WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, whose league is prepared to capitalize on the surging popularity of women’s college basketball.
‘Everyone is talking women’s basketball,’ she told reporters in a few prepared remarks.
‘We’ve been preparing for this moment,’ she continued. ‘It’s a transformational moment. We’ve been undergoing a business transformation for the last couple of years. First women’s sports property to raise capital. We raised $75 million in February of [2022], deploying that against a lot of things that are gonna help grow this game and welcome this draft class.’
Cathy Engelbert, WNBA prospects Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson and Angel Reese Light the Empire State Building in Celebration of the WNBA Draft
Ohio State’s Celeste Taylor follows her fellow WNBA hopefuls onto the ESB observation deck
The presumed WNBA Draft lottery picks assembled at the Empire State Building in Manhattan
The WNBA’s timing appears to be impeccable.
Whereas the NBA draft won’t take place until after its season is over, leaving the new rookies to ripen on the vine for months before their professional debut, these WNBA stars will be playing competitive basketball in one month.
And for someone like Clark, that must come as a major relief.
While the sharp-shooting superstar confidently describes herself as ‘one of the best players in the world,’ she admitted to NBC’s Today that the media side of the business is a bit harrowing.
‘I don’t get nervous for basketball games,’ she said. ‘But going in front of a live audience on national television [with Saturday Night Live], doing something outside of your comfort zone, is a little scary.
‘My heart was pounding out of my chest.’
For Clark, serenity will come on May 14, when the Indiana Fever play their opener against the Connecticut Sun.
