{"id":651561,"date":"2026-05-06T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651561\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:00:10","slug":"caitlin-clark-loses-spot-to-paige-bueckers-as-wnba-gms-franchise-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651561\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark loses spot to Paige Bueckers as WNBA GMs\u2019 franchise player"},"content":{"rendered":"

WNBA<\/a> general managers have spoken, and their preferred franchise player is not Indiana Fever<\/a> guard Caitlin Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The WNBA released its annual GM survey<\/a> ahead of the league\u2019s 30th season, which tips off May 8<\/a>. The poll covered a multitude of league-related topics. Among the categories, GMs answered who they would prefer as a franchise cornerstone.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Caitlin Clark\u2019s \u2018insane\u2019 pass to Sophie Cunningham is a must-see<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the WNBA, who would it be?\u201d the poll read.<\/p>\n

Dallas Wings<\/a> star and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers<\/a> topped the results with 33 percent of the votes.<\/p>\n

Clark came in second, tied with four-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces<\/a> at 20 percent each.<\/p>\n

Dominique Malonga<\/a> of the Seattle Storm<\/a> finished third at 13 percent. Breanna Stewart<\/a> of the New York Liberty<\/a> and Napheesa Collier<\/a> of the Minnesota Lynx<\/a> also received votes.<\/p>\n

GM survey snub could fuel Caitlin Clark heading into Year 3\"\"<\/p>\n

The shift is a stark contrast to last year\u2019s survey. Clark garnered 50 percent of the franchise player votes in 2025 following her record-breaking rookie campaign.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

From the top pick as a franchise cornerstone among GMs last year, Clark has lost the spot to Bueckers heading into 2026.<\/p>\n

The decline is not entirely surprising. An injury-riddled second season limited Clark to just 13 games. Groin and quad injuries derailed what many expected to be a dominant second year. She averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game in limited action.<\/p>\n

Clark has since returned to form. She earned tournament MVP honors at the FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in March.<\/p>\n

Clark dealt with a minor injury scare<\/a> during the Fever\u2019s preseason slate. However, she is fit to play ahead of Indiana\u2019s season opener against Bueckers and the Wings on May 9.<\/p>\n

The GM survey is the latest slight for a player who has made a habit of proving people wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA general managers have spoken, and their preferred franchise player is not Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4657,49,735,48,3459,40528,110917,14230,2803,3460,736,729,3457,4658,1611,10879,82,630],"class_list":["post-651561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-dallas-wings","tag-dominique-malonga","tag-franchise-player","tag-gm","tag-indiana-fever","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}