Lisa Leslie Calls Out WNBA GMs For Disrespecting Caitlin Clark

The results of the 2026 WNBA General Manager survey was recently revealed and the GMs of the league had thoughts about Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark that they were clearly too afraid to voice publicly. They probably should be scared based on how WNBA legend Lisa Leslie responded to it.

Last year the question "Which player would you start a franchise with?" saw Clark emerge as the clear favorite with 50-percent of the vote. But this time, Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers got the highest vote tally at 33-percent, while Caitlin Clark and reigning MVP A'ja Wilson tied at 20-percent.

Appearing on First Take this week, Leslie made it clear that any GM who would start a franchise with Bueckers over Clark will probably get fired down the road. She pointed out that Clark's impact on the WNBA is so big (even if she isn't statistically the best) that teams simply have to prioritize her due to the money she brings in.

"All those GMs probably gonna get fired, because this is a money business. And the money is about Caitlin Clark," Leslie said. "Never in the history of the WNBA, have we had a player force teams to get into larger arenas. I've never seen that happen. If you're the GM, you're obviously supposed to be bringing in money. That's revenue. I'm going with Caitlin Clark."

The Debate

While Lisa Leslie's argument makes sense from a business perspective (almost no one can argue that any WNBA player puts more people in seats than the Indiana Fever star), fans disagreed to an extent purely on the basis of on-court results.

"The GMs answered the question based on the basketball on the court. Lisa is answering the question based on the economic factors," one user argued on X.

"The amount of money she brings in doesn't make her better lol!" another declared.

"Folks have gotten away from the basketball logic and just spoken about ratings and other (expletive) which have nothing to do with on the court. The GMs said the quiet part out loud and now, mfs are scrambling to make up (expletive) excuses," a third wrote.

But for the most part, fans agreed that making money is the most important job of the team.

Who would you start a team with?

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 3:01 PM.