Dave Portnoy's Big Caitlin Clark Bet Profits $325K, Nearly The Same Amount Of WNBA Star's Four-Year Salary

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is no stranger to placing large wagers on top sports outcomes and he made sure to get in on the action for the first Indiana Fever WNBA game of the 2025 season as a Caitlin Clark fan.

Portnoy's winnings were large and might illustrate the gap between WNBA and NBA salaries once again.

What Happened: The Fever were dominant in their first game of the season beating the Chicago Sky 93-58, a win that might have been heavily bet on at sportsbooks with Clark and Angel Reese featured, two former college basketball stars now in their second years in the WNBA.

Clark finished the game with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, marking her third career triple double, a feat that occurs when a player has 10 or more in three different stat categories.

Portnoy predicted Clark's triple double before the game, placing a $25,000 wager with DraftKings Inc DKNG, a sportsbook he is partnered.

With the triple double, Portnoy's bet at odds of +1,300 paid out a total of $350,000 for a $325,000 profit.

The huge win isn't the largest by Portnoy and one of many examples of his large bets on sports contests.

The profit amount quickly took another direction on social media with people comparing the winnings to the WNBA salary of Clark and how it stacks up against the NBA.

Clark, the first overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft, had a salary of $76,535 in her rookie season and is set to make $78,066 in her second season. She will be paid $85,873 and $97,583 for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, respectively.

Clark's four-year rookie contract is worth $338,056. This means that Portnoy's profit on one Clark bet from her first 2025 game made him almost as much as the WNBA will pay Clark for her first four seasons in the league.

For comparison, the number one overall NBA pick in the 2024 draft Zaccharie Risacher earned a four-year $57 million contract.

While most WNBA players will earn less than NBA players, Clark will be one of the top earners thanks to endorsement deals. As Benzinga previously reported, Clark landed a $28 million eight-year deal with Nike Inc NKE. That deal pays out over 45x the first-year salary for Clark.

According to Sportico, Clark is one of the highest-paid female athletes with $11 million in earnings from endorsements. Along with Nike, Clark as deals with the likes of Gatorade, State Farm, Wilson, Xfinity and Panini.

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What's Next: Expectations are high for the Indiana Fever and Clark in the 2025 season. The team ranks second in betting odds to win the WNBA championship with odds of +340, trailing only the defending champion New York Liberty at +225 according to sportsbook DraftKings.

Clark is the favorite to win the WNBA MVP at odds of +165, ranking ahead of last year's runner-up Napheesa Collier (+250) and last year's winner A'ja Wilson (+275).

Portnoy said the Fever are the team to beat and Clark could go on to win the MVP championship.

"Fever look great. Caitlin Clark looks like she's gonna be the MVP of the league."

Betting $100 on the Fever to win the WNBA Championship will pay out a profit of $340 if Portnoy is right. Betting $100 on Clark to win MVP would pay out a profit of $165.

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