NBC Sports has added another high-profile “special contributor” to its NBA coverage, and this time it is the biggest name in women’s basketball.
Indiana Fever G Caitlin Clark has joined NBC Sports as a “special contributor” to its “Basketball Night in America” pregame show, which will air prior to the “Sunday Night Basketball” series that begins this weekend. Unlike Michael Jordan, whose “special contributor” role for NBC has thus far consisted of a single pre-taped interview, Clark will appear live alongside the studio team of Maria Taylor, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter live from the site of games.
But like Jordan, Clark will be on only sparingly. While Clark said in a statement released by NBC that she will be on “a few times this season,” the only dates are this coming Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York and March 29 from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. NBC has eight nights of “Basketball Night in America” pregame coverage during the regular season.
It might go without saying that Clark would be unavailable for any NBA playoff coverage, as the WNBA season is scheduled to begin May 8. (And in the event the season is delayed due to a work stoppage — the WNBA collective bargaining agreement expired earlier this month — it would seem highly unlikely that Clark would make on-air appearances while her union is on strike.)
While NBC has aired NBA games all season long, the “Sunday Night Basketball” series marks the network’s highest-profile effort since Opening Night. Its Tuesday night windows are non-exclusive and regional.
Clark, the highest-profile player in women’s basketball, has not played since suffering a groin injury last July — part of an injury-wracked sophomore season in which she played just 13 games. Her most recent television appearance was at the LPGA ANNIKA Pro-Am in November, which aired on Golf Channel. Her previous appearance as a guest analyst was on the Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird alternate presentation of last year’s NCAA women’s basketball national championship, which aired on ESPN.
It is unlikely that the “Basketball Night in America” role will be the only time Clark appears on NBC’s Sunday night sports line-up. The Fever are scheduled for Sunday night games on July 12 and August 23, two of only three weeks between this coming Sunday and next January when NBC does not have any NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball games scheduled (on the third Sunday, which will occur over Labor Day weekend, NBC is set to air a Wisconsin-Notre Dame football game). Assuming the season is played as scheduled, NBC will resume airing WNBA games for the first time since 2002 and will — along with USA Network — carry the WNBA Finals next fall.
