DALLAS -- One of the co-stars of "A Night in Dallas" will miss Friday's sold-out production at American Airlines Center. Caitlin Clark has been ruled out with a groin strain. A shame she doesn't get to play her part, what with everyone dying to see Clark and Paige Bueckers pick up where Magic Johnson and Larry Bird left off back in the '80s, when they rescued the NBA from irrelevance.
If the above sentiment seems preposterous, either you're not old enough to have worn bell bottoms with platform shoes -- and fabulously, at that -- or you were unaware "the Caitlin Clark effect" has its own Wikipedia page.
Look over the numbers long enough and you wonder why Clark isn't listed on the NYSE. The Indianapolis Star reported in December a study that suggested TV viewership of WNBA games was up 300% because of Clark. One of every six league tickets sold could be attributed to the Fever's point guard, as well.
Let's just say the Wings weren't the first WNBA team to move a game with the Fever to a bigger arena to accommodate Clark's following.
Before getting to the league's new power couple, allow this diversion:
Believe it or not, not everyone in the WNBA seems to share the belief that a rising tide floats all boats. Instead of relishing the league's newfound popularity as a result of "the Clark effect," a few ingrates have treated Clark like a piñata. When one of her teammates, Sophie Cunningham, finally came to her defense after months of watching Clark bumped, blindsided, flattened, bulldozed and poked in the eye, Cunningham's Instagram following swelled by 500,000. A.J. Dillon, a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, even called Cunningham his new favorite player.
Attempts by critics to explain the phenomenon as a resentment borne of race or envy or both miss the point. On one hand, I could see how you might feel a little peeved if you'd been trying for years to keep the league afloat and remained relatively anonymous despite your efforts. Then along comes a newbie who reaps all the credit, not to mention the windfall. A little like Elvis Presley becoming an overnight sensation mimicking what Black singers had been doing for years.
On the other hand, as usual, I vote with our nation's favorite philosopher.
"You women out there," Charles Barkley said last year on Inside the NBA, "y'all petty."
Not only has Clark drawn eyeballs to the WNBA, the controversy encircling the way she's been treated has done the same. No one in the league office seems in a hurry to quash the rebellion, if that's any indication.
Anyway, where were we? Right. Clark and Bueckers. A better rivalry, or at least an uglier one, might be Clark and Angel Reese. Their grudge goes back to their days in the NCAA Tournament.
But, if Reese is a good player, Bueckers is a great one. One of the league's best in only her rookie season. A truly great rivalry demands someone who commands equal billing.
Bueckers and Clark are different players, but so were Bird and Magic, who didn't even play the same position. Yet they helped usher in the modern NBA.
A late '70s sports culture primer: NBA on TV had been hit-and-miss ever since the league's inception, but it hit rock bottom in 1979. Reports of rampant drug use led to a decline in popularity and ratings. In fact, TV ratings for the Final Four tripled those of the NBA Finals. As a result, over a three-year period, CBS televised nearly half of its playoff games, including the Finals, on tape-delay. Tape-delay! You had to stay up after the local news just to get a look.
David Stern orchestrated a number of brilliant moves as commissioner to restore the league's credibility in the '80s, but none was bigger than pushing the league's newest stars.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird kicked off their rivalry in the NCAA Tournament and carried it over into the NBA, straight into America's living rooms. They represented the best of the best. From 1980-88, either the Lakers or Celtics won all but one of the nine titles. Three times they played each other in the Finals, with Magic claiming a 2-1 edge.
Once again, permit me to turn to the Chuckster for perspective. He calls Bird and Magic "the two most important people" in league history.
"Obviously, Michael Jordan took it to another level," Barkley once said, "but I'm old enough to remember before Magic and Larry got into the NBA, the league ... wasn't making any money. So when these guys talk about who made the league, it was Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
"You can't say thank you enough."
Paige Bueckers isn't old enough to remember the WNBA's humble beginnings, when the Wings draped off swaths of empty seats at College Park Center to improve the overall aesthetic. But her teammates talked about it this week. They imagined what it will be like to play in an arena more than three times the size of their home gym in front of a national audience. They dreamed of what it would be like to do so every game.
Might be years before it happens on a regular basis, if then. Helps if you've two young stars going back-and-forth for titles.
"Everyone's gonna bill it as Caitlin vs. Paige," Wings Coach Chris Koclanes said of Friday's big game, "but it's a team sport."
Better hope they always bill it that way, Chris. Teams win trophies, but stars build leagues.