For someone who has been thriving under the brightest spotlights since her college basketball days, it is safe to say it takes quite a lot to make Caitlin Clark nervous. But meeting former President of the United States Barack Obama at WNBA All-Star Weekend was apparently enough to do exactly that.
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“My hands were getting a little bit sweaty, and I don’t really get nervous for anybody,” Clark said in a video shared by Obama on X, reacting to her brief encounter with the former president during the All-Star Weekend at Home Court at the Obama Presidential Center.
“But that’s somebody like, just his presence commands a room,” Clark added.
For Clark, the moment further stood out because of the advice Obama gave the Indiana Fever star.
“You are fantastic. Don’t let all this nonsense get you down,” he told her, in footage captured by NBC Chicago. “I always say, one of the things that was luckiest for me is, I didn’t get famous until I was like 45… you’re my daughter’s age. So don’t lose that joy. The game’s like the game. And you’re a hooper”
His comments came amid the stretch of controversy Clark has faced this season, after the incident with Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas that snowballed beyond the on-court play into a broader conversation about player safety, officiating, and online abuse Thomas had to face.
Clark reflected further on the exchange, telling reporters afterward: “He just complimented me for the way that I handle everything, obviously with everything that’s been going on.
She added that the moment served as “a good reminder for all of us of treating people with respect, treating people with grace, and definitely a moment I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life”.
The video further highlighted Obama’s interactions with the other players, and naturally, Clark was far from the only one left starstruck.
Toronto Tempo guard Marina Mabrey was caught off guard when Obama referenced her WNBA-record-tying 53-point game from June 25: “I was thinking, ‘Did he see it when it was happening? Was he rooting for me?'” Even Kahleah Cooper was genuinely surprised that he appeared to recognize Mabrey.
Olivia Miles, in the same vein, expressed how honoured she felt. And Paige Bueckers summed up the experience in the most Paige Bueckers way possible: “I shook his hands. I gained like infinity aura points.”
One of the most delightful moments came courtesy of Jonquel Jones, who found herself in a brief, playful basketball exchange that had the former president stepping onto the court to humorously assume a defensive stance against her.
“He cool and we love him, but he can’t attack me,” Jones said.
The former president was full of praise for the players, posed for pictures with them, including one with Clark alongside her Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, and eventually gathered with all the players together for a group photo.
The players also presented him with a custom No. 44 WNBA All-Star jersey, which they plan to collectively autograph. It was, by every measure, a genuinely wholesome encounter. And the players were absolutely, pleasantly overwhelmed by every second of it.