WNBA’s Cheyenne Parker-Tyus Weighs In on the Caitlin Clark Effect: ‘Beginning of a New Era’

The WNBA is extremely competitive, but the Atlanta Dream’s Cheyenne Parker-Tyus believes that a win for one player can be a win for all of women’s basketball — and one player is changing the game right now.

“It’s a pivotal moment in time for women’s sports,” the 6-foot-4 forward — who is in her ninth season in the league — told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting her team’s partnership with The Honey Pot . “ Caitlin Clark coming in and having this effect … she has been historic for this time in women’s sports and she’s brought all these new fans. It’s like the beginning of a new era right now.”

Clark, who was drafted to the Indiana Fever in April as a first round pick after a record-breaking college career with the University of Iowa, is already making waves in the WNBA. The 22-year-old guard became the first-ever rookie to notch a triple-double last month, and she broke the Fever’s team record for assists in a single season in just 20 games.

Moreover, Clark has helped to bring more viewers and fans into the world of women’s basketball. Her team’s NCAA championship game against South Carolina marked the first time in history a women’s final has drawn a larger TV audience than the men’s.

“The effect that she has had is kind of unbelievable,” Parker-Tyus, 31, told Us . “We have to change arenas for this girl so that all her fans can fit in the gym. To see the growth and the buy-in is amazing.”

The Dream’s August 26 match against the Fever was moved to State Farm Stadium — home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks — to accommodate the large crowd that Clark draws.

But Parker-Tyus says this is only the beginning.

“It’s been a matter of time for a player like her to come around. There’s so much room for more of those now that we have eyes on us,” she said. “There’s so much room for more Caitlin Clarks as far as people seeing the greatness in her and really buying into it.”

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While 2024 has been a year of exponential growth for women’s basketball and women’s sports more broadly, Parker-Tyus thinks change has been a long time coming. When she was drafted to the Chicago Sky in 2015, she said people on the street in downtown Chicago didn’t even know what the Sky was, let alone who the players were. Almost a decade later, she has seen a lot of positive change.

“I’m always down to help build the brand of women’s basketball in general,” she told Us , noting that billboards, media coverage and the new WNBA media rights deal have all helped to put a spotlight on the league. “I’m gonna shout out other women players and post them because I just want to help.”

In addition to promoting her sport, Parker-Tyus is also an advocate for women’s health. With the help of The Honey Pot — the Dream’s exclusive body care partner, a first-of-its-kind collaboration — the WNBA All-Star is helping to break the stigma associated with vaginal health, which became even more important to her after she became a mother.

“Going through the experience of birth has completely changed my perspective and has given me an appreciation for the process of giving birth and knowing your body,” Parker-Tyus told Us . “It’s such a common thing and something women all deal with. So to have a healthy vagina is so important.”

As part of their mission to support the health and well-being of people with vaginas, The Honey Pot is ensuring that Dream players have access to any feminine care products they may need in their own locker room, in addition to impactful initiatives in the community.

“When the partnership started and we first walked into our locker room, we couldn’t believe our eyes,” Parker-Tyus said. “It was almost emotional because, as women, we shop for these things, but we don’t always know it’s coming. So just to have that access is a really, really exciting thing for us as a team.”