The WNBA bet big on Caitlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers. Opening Day delivered

Bueckers received an unmistakably enthusiastic crowd pop during the visitors’ lineup announcement. When the public address announcer got to Clark as the final starter for the home team, the crowd achieved a level of noise erasure that, without exaggeration, evoked the heyday of United Center crowds overcoming Michael Jordan’s intro as soon as they heard “And from North Carolina …”

There was love for others. There was no raw exultation. “It’s great for women’s basketball more than anything,” Clark said. “The excitement, I think it speaks to the young talent in this league, how excited fans are about both these teams, (and) obviously what the league thinks about both these teams, having them match up in the first game of the season.”

This is not the same as being the only thing the WNBA has to offer. Of course not.

In terms of ability and marketability, A’ja Wilson is a phenomenon. Breanna Stewart all but obliterated the Connecticut Sun by herself Friday to remind everyone she is something else, all on her own, while operating in a media metropolis. Angel Reese has a gravitational pull. And so on.

We don’t even have to look further than Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday to prove the point. Aliyah Boston could beat Clark to an MVP award. Azzi Fudd may have had a tepid regular-season debut with one bucket in 17-plus minutes off the bench, yes. But along that tunnel to the locker rooms during pregame warmups, the fans wearing No. 35 UConn and Dallas jerseys outnumbered those with Bueckers’ gear.

The league would be off-balance if it attempted to stand on the shoulders of just two players. The evolution of the WNBA is not entirely about Caitlin and Paige, Paige and Caitlin.

But also, so what if it is?

It’s not reductive or insulting. It’s business. The audience collectively determines which players have the most evocative games or names or personalities. And when the goal is to grow exponentially into a global product, and globally marketable assets are jet fuel for that, the WNBA would be borderline delinquent if it didn’t lean into heavy doses of those chosen few. If your face isn’t among the faces of the league, and you feel a certain way about it, well, be better at whatever it takes to change that dynamic. Otherwise, enjoy the ride.

To put it another way, let’s consider the highly scientific study done in one house on the North Side of Chicago this week. Upon learning that her father was traveling for work for a few days, a teenage daughter wondered where he was going.

“Indianapolis,” he told her.

“For what?” she asked.

“To write about the Wings-Fever season opener,” he said.

“I hate you,” she said.

Not an uncommon point of view for a 17-year-old — or anyone, if we’re being honest — but telling in its own way. The envy didn’t stem from a chance to find a good pork tenderloin sandwich somewhere in the city. It had everything to do with the teams that would play Saturday and those four No. 1 picks who play for those teams.

It had only to do with that.

So when Bueckers trails Clark hip-to-hip up the floor in the first half, and Clark tries to create separation with a two-hand shove that earns an offensive foul … oh, did you see that? When Bueckers gets whistled for a foul on Clark in the second half and appeals incredulously to every official, all while Clark walks away stone-faced … oh, did you see that? When Bueckers hits big shots out of timeouts in the fourth quarter, and Clark misses a clean look at a tying 3 in the last 10 seconds, after pump-faking Bueckers out of the picture … yeah. Everyone saw that.

Why is Clark’s wearing a leg sleeve at practice a topic of conversation? Why is Clark’s wondering whether the new Gainbridge Fieldhouse DJ will play Lady Gaga’s “Applause” during warmups even worth mentioning? (The DJ did, which we know because Clark was asked about it after the game.) Why are her in-game trips to the locker room to get a fairly routine back treatment the subject of speculation and worry?

It doesn’t matter. They just are. That’s all that matters.

They don’t have to dislike each other to make everyone pay attention. They just have to be in each other’s way at the important moments. Saturday, in Clark’s words, was “one of 44.” This is both true and not entirely sufficient to measure how it resonates.

Clark’s first game back after an injury-curtailed 2025 was uneven and tantalizing and frustrating. “I felt I was literally a couple buckets away from putting together a really good game and helping us win,” she said after scoring 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting with five turnovers. Bueckers, meanwhile, was impeccable, tasked with guarding Clark for large portions of the game but also posting 20 points and four assists while committing one turnover.

It was absolutely one of those important moments. “When I was growing up, watching the Minnesota Lynx, there wasn’t as much national TV coverage,” Bueckers said. “You didn’t see talk shows about it. You didn’t see so much on the social media. For the continued rise of women’s sports and women’s basketball, it’s really fun to be a part of.”

Four women have combined to win the last seven league MVP awards. One of them, Elena Delle Donne, is retired. The other three — Wilson, Stewart and Jonquel Jones — will be in their early 30s by the end of this season. They may well produce several more years of greatness. But their respective off-ramps aren’t theoretical anymore. They have more years of standard-bearing behind them than they do ahead of them.

As the wind picked up and the sun set late Saturday afternoon, more fans lined the barriers separating them from the loading dock exit for players. They wore Caitlin Clark jerseys. They wore Paige Bueckers jerseys. The table is set for the next three decades. We already know who the centerpieces are.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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