Hoda Kotb Reacts To Caitlin Clark's Significantly Less WNBA Contract Compared To Victor Wembanyama's
Hoda Kotb wasn't impressed by how much was offered to Caitlin Clark in the WNBA.
Clark, 22, was the No. 1 overall draft pick for the 2024 WNBA on Monday. The WNBA rookie signed a four-year contract with the Indiana Fever for $338,000.
However, Clark's contract raised several eyebrows because it was significantly less compared to what Victor Wembanyama made as the top pick in the 2023 NBA draft. The 20-year-old French professional basketball player landed a $55 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs.
Kotb couldn't help but react after noticing the wage disparity between the two athletes.
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(Photo : John Lamparski/Getty Images)
"For somebody who is now the face of women's basketball, it seemed kind of ridiculous," Kotb said on Tuesday's episode of "Today," Page Six reported. "There's just something about this that's so disturbing. I mean, I picture all the little girls with signs that say, 'Caitlin!' but this is what her contract is worth?"
"Hopefully the payday is coming, too," her co-host Savannah Guthrie replied.
The pay disparity between the two athletes remained on Kotb's mind as she opened up about the same issue on "Today with Hoda & Jenna" later on the same day.
"I was like, 'Ah! What's she gonna get paid?' Because finally, you can get a real paycheck, and then I saw it, and I was like, 'This can't be right,'" Kotb said.
(Photo : Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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When Kotb read Clark's starting salary of $76,535, she wasn't happy at all.
"So this is what the No. 1 player, who's now at the WNBA, [is earning]?" she asked.
The TV host acknowledged that Clark could make more money from various product endorsements. However, she still had a hard time grasping the wage disparity between the two after Wembanyama made $12.1 million for his first season with the Spurs.
(Photo : Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Time Inc./People)
Her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, shared the same sentiment.
"Honestly, the gap is so jarring," Bush Hager said. "The discrepancy when we're talking about equal pay? That ain't even close!"
Kotb said the significant gap was "like picking at an old scab for many women," including herself.
"Sitting for many years next to co-anchors over the years and not knowing what anyone got paid and then discovering that you're making like a tiny fraction of what the guy was making next to you," she shared.
Clark, for her part, celebrated her contract by sharing photos on Instagram. In one shot, she can be seen holding a white and navy Indiana Fever snapback hat.
"Dreams to reality," she wrote in the caption with a black heart emoji. "INDY LETS GET IT️"
