Before fans got used to Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston sharing pregame rituals as Fever teammates, the two were stars on opposite sides of women’s college basketball. Back then, they were among the very best in the game, and their paths collided on the biggest stage of all. Clark and Boston faced off in the 2023 NCAA Final Four, a matchup that ultimately ended Boston’s college career, and it’s a moment she still hasn’t quite forgotten.

During a December 17 episode of the Post Moves podcast, Aliyah Boston and Candace Parker were answering fan questions when one listener asked whether either of their college coaches ever changed their strategy or approach in the season following a national championship.

“Honestly, Coach Staley really didn’t have to make any adjustments, because we knew that teams were coming for us every single time that we stepped on that floor,” Boston responded to the fan. “So for us, it was just you understood what it took to win a championship the year before, and you knew that teams were gonna give you their best shot. So you had to be ready.

“The way that we approached practice was always intense. So we didn’t really have to make any crazy adjustments, because we knew that if we wanted to go back-to-back, we would have to grind it, and we make it pretty far,” she continued.” Then we met Caitlin. Lame.”

South Carolina entered that Final Four matchup sitting at a perfect 36–0, widely seen as the clear favorite to repeat as national champions. What they didn’t account for was what Caitlin Clark was about to unleash, a performance that completely ripped Dawn Staley’s game plan to shreds.

Clark put on an all-time performance, pouring in 41 points on 15-of-31 shooting, knocking down five threes, while also adding eight assists and six rebounds. The performance stunned the Gamecocks and carried Iowa to the national championship game for the first time in program history.

Unfortunately, that stunning 77–73 upset of the Gamecocks turned out to be the high point of Iowa’s season. Caitlin Clark and co fell short in the national championship game against LSU, a loss that also sparked the now-famous Angel Reese–Caitlin Clark rivalry. In the closing moments, the Bayou Barbie pointed to her ring finger in Clark’s direction, a gesture that instantly became one of the most talked-about moments in women’s college basketball.

It also marked the final chapter of Aliyah Boston’s college career. The Gamecocks fell short of repeating as national champions, but Boston’s legacy in Columbia was already secure. She would go on to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever.

The loss also forced Dawn Staley to adjust and evolve, and that growth showed a year later when the Gamecocks earned their rematch against Iowa in the national championship game and delivered their revenge.

What Boston couldn’t have known at the time was that just a year later, Caitlin Clark would be joining her in Indiana, a move that would not only reshape the Fever but help change the league itself.

Speaking of changing the league, Clark’s otherworldly impact, which sent viewership, attendance, and merchandise sales soaring at a record pace, also helped the Fever guard reach a major personal milestone.

Caitlin Clark Ranks Among the Wealthiest

According to Forbes’ list of the top 20 highest-paid female athletes of 2025, Clark sits at No. 11 overall among stars across all sports. What really stands out, though, is how that number breaks down. She earned just $0.1 million on the court, but a staggering $12 million off it.

That off-court dominance places her comfortably ahead of fellow WNBA stars like Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, and Paige Bueckers, underscoring just how powerful the Caitlin Clark brand has already become.

Reaching that milestone despite playing just 13 games this season tells you everything you need to know about Clark’s pull. With major endorsement deals from Gatorade, State Farm, Wilson, Hy-Vee, Xfinity, Gainbridge, and, of course, Nike, she has firmly cemented her status as the highest-earning player in the WNBA.

Of course, breaking into the top 10 will require significantly higher on-court earnings, something that remains difficult in the current WNBA landscape. The league’s minimum salary sits at $66,079 for players with two or fewer years of service and $78,831 for those with three or more. Even at the very top, the regular maximum salary is just $214,466, with so-called “supermax” contracts hovering around $250,000.

Hopefully, a new CBA is implemented going forward, because without meaningful changes, Clark breaking into the very top of these lists looks increasingly unlikely.