Caitlin Clark Fans Furious Over Paige Bueckers WNBA Rookie Award Treatment Disparity

On September 16, news broke that Dallas Wings superstar Paige Bueckers won the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year award. She received 70 of 72 possible votes for the award.

While Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron (who received the other two votes) produced a fantastic first year in the WNBA, it would be hard for just about anybody to justify placing Bueckers over her in the Rookie of the Year voting. In fact, many would argue that Bueckers was just as clear a Rookie of the Year winner as Caitlin Clark was (who received 66 out of 67 potential votes for the award) one season ago.

Bueckers learned she had earned this honor when WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert surprised her in person during her “Spirit Tunnel” walk at The Jennifer Hudson Show, handing her the trophy and offering her congratulations.

Last year, Engelbert let Clark knew she won the award by giving her a phone call at the end of a Fever practice.

Caitlin Clark Fans Irked Over Difference in Paige Bueckers Rookie Award Treatment

The disparity between how Clark and Bueckers received this news from Engelbert has many Clark fans feeling upset on social media Tuesday.

“WNBA commish Cathy Englebert with two vastly different ways to announce the ROY winner,” one X user wrote, along with a screenshot of Bueckers getting the trophy from Engelbert and former Fever coach Christie Sides holding a photo up, which was when Clark was informed about winning the award last year.

Another X user posted a video of both moments with the caption, “The WNBA commissioner decided to put in a little more effort on this year’s Rookie of the Year announcement”.

Basketball media analyst Rachel DeMite made an X post that read, “Cathy didn’t even FaceTime Caitlin last year.. just a team call on speaker wow”.

And many other fans have expressed their frustration over this.

Another fan noted an important distinction between last year and this year: Clark was preparing for the WNBA playoffs when she won the award, while Bueckers’ season is already over with the Wings. But didn’t ease the fan’s frustration.

Fans Notice Difference in WNBA Rookie of the Year Shirts

It wasn’t just Engelbert giving Bueckers the Rookie of the Year trophy in person that angered people. One X user posted a video of Nike Basketball’s 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year t-shirt (which said exactly that) compared to a much cooler and customized version this year for Bueckers.

Clark’s fans are also frustrated about this, with one writing, “Yeah. This isn’t ok. Last year this idea of not giving Caitlin too much shine was insane and highly disappointing. This is not a knock on Paige.”

Again, some context is important, because the back of Clark’s Nike Basketball ROTY shirt included some of her record-breaking stats from her rookie season on the back, which was actually quite cool.

But fans are still within their rights to feel frustrated about this disparity.

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