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Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum took a swipe at Caitlin Clark and her All-Star team during a postgame press conference on Saturday night as she spoke about the players’ protest.
WNBA All-Stars, including Clark, who was sidelined because of an injury, wore T-shirts that read, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” The shot across the bow of the WNBA came amid tense talks around their new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for 2026 and beyond.
Los Angeles Sparks’s Kelsey Plum shoots during the 3-point contest at the WNBA All-Star basketball weekend on Friday, July 18, 2025 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Plum, who was sitting next to New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, made an odd revelation about the decision to wear the shirts. Even Ionescu, who was on Clark’s team during the All-Star Game, appeared to be taken aback.
“It was a very powerful moment,” Plum said. “We didn’t, at least as players, we didn’t know that was going to happen. I think it was kind of, like, a genuine surprise. But the T-shirt, just, united front, was determined this morning, that we had a meeting for. And, you know, not to tattletale, but zero members of Team Clark were very present for that.”
Caitlin Clark, #22 of the Indiana Fever, wears a shirt saying “Pay us what you owe us” prior to the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
WNBA STARS’ ALL-STAR GAME MESSAGE ON PAY INCREASE DRAWS SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION
Ionescu sarcastically added, “that really needed to be mentioned.”
“I’m trying to make the situation light, OK? I think it was all of us just getting on the same page before the game, and we wanted to do something that was just uniting and collective and I thought that it was a very powerful moment and got the point across,” Plum continued. “And sometimes, you don’t have to say anything.”
The protest was the talk of the weekend as players criticized WNBA officials amid the negotiations.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Saturday she believed a deal will get done before the current CBA expires.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a news conference before the WNBA All-Star basketball game on Saturday, July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
“I’m still really optimistic that we’ll get something done that would be transformational,” she said. “And that, next year at All-Star, we’ll be talking about how great everything is. Obviously there’s a lot of hard work to be done on both sides to get there.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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