Sports
WNBA, Las Vegas Aces Silent After Clay Travis Issues Boys High School Challenge – Outkick
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Amber Harding updated 3 Comments
It’s been 24 hours since Clay Travis issued a challenge to the Las Vegas Aces. And so far — crickets.
The OutKick founder is challenging the WNBA champion to play a game against a boys high school basketball team. The winner gets $1 million.
It’s all because Aces guard Chelsea Gray called Clay a “dumbass” for claiming, “a good, state championship caliber, high school boys team would smoke the best team in the WNBA.”
OutKick reached out to both the Aces and the WNBA for comment, but we have not received a response.
Meanwhile, Clay’s offer stands. If the Aces lose, they have to pony up $1 million, which he will donate to the boys’ high school team. But if the Aces win, they get $1 million of Clay’s own money.
In fact, he’s upping the ante.
“I am thinking about putting the game on pay per view if @LVAces will agree to play,” he posted on X Saturday. “I think we might be able to make more money from their game against one boys team than the entire WNBA makes in a year. Would definitely be most popular WNBA game ever.”
I am thinking about putting the game on pay per view if @LVAces will agree to play. I think we might be able to make more money from their game against one boy’s team than the entire WNBA makes in a year. Would definitely be most popular WNBA game ever.
And the idea has garnered plenty of enthusiasm from sports fans.
I’ll pay to watch this. Courtside. https://t.co/J03WUua2bV
I've never shelled out cash for a game but put this on PPV and I'm in!
This made for tv event could break WNBA ratings records. https://t.co/alOAHexKuJ
I would actually watch it…it’d be my first WNBA game I watched…ever!!!
Let’s make this happen. https://t.co/LtgqIjT18d
Some folks, though, weren’t so enthralled with the proposal.
“Y’all really leveraged women’s sports as an opportunity to be transphobic. Embarrassing,” Ballsack Sports posted on X. “Stop tearing women’s sports down for engagement.”
Clay both refuted those claims and expressed his deepest apologies for not having the “esteemed ethics of Ballsack Sports.”
Y’all really leveraged women’s sports as an opportunity to be transphobic. Embarrassing. Stop tearing women’s sports down for engagement. https://t.co/G8qv67cU9o
And there were plenty of accusations of sexism — as if acknowledging biological differences between men and women is somehow suggesting women are “less than men.”
OutKick’s Riley Gaines weighed in: “Of course women are not ‘less than’ men. We’re not inferior to men, but we are different. And we deserve to be recognized and celebrated by our uniqueness and physical ceilings. Need reminding of US Women’s National Soccer Team?”
She’s, of course, referring to that time the FC Dallas U-15 boys’ soccer team beat the USWNT in a scrimmage.
Of course women are not "less than" men. We're not inferior to men but we are different. And we deserve to recognized and celebrated by our uniqueness and physical ceilings.
Need reminding of US Women's National Soccer Team? https://t.co/z200w3HcBs
Clay is, quite literally, putting his money where his mouth is, and the offer is gaining traction. But don’t expect the WNBA or the Aces to take him up on it.
It’s a lose-lose situation for them: If the Aces lose, women’s basketball would never live it down. If they win, they can’t exactly brag about beating a bunch of high school kids.
A cool $1 million sure would be nice, though.
Follow Amber on X at @TheAmberHarding or email her at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com.
Amber is a Midwestern transplant living in Murfreesboro, TN. She spends most of her time taking pictures of her dog, explaining why real-life situations are exactly like “this one time on South Park,” and being disappointed by the Tennessee Volunteers.
The women’s basketball is one inch less in circumference and two ounces lighter than the men’s basketball. The women’s three-point line is nine inches further out than that of the high-school boys. Someone would have to iron out a few details.
There is no standard 3-point line in HS boys’ basketball – some states don’t have a 3-point line, nor do all states have a shot clock. LOTS of differences to iron out.
None of that would matter one iota. Men’s and women’s basketball are not even the same sport. They share a common goal of putting the ball through the hoop more times than the other team, but that is it. One game is slow and ground-bound. One is fast and flying. The slow, ground-bound game gets absolutely annihilated on every single possession. Every one. On both sides of the court. I have taken place in a similar game against much older, more accomplished females, and we beat them so badly, so quickly, so easily, that we felt genuinely awkward and embarrassed almost immediately despite being several years younger. A good high school boys team would lead the game 40-3 (assuming the WNBA team hits a long three) within ten minutes, probably less.
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