{"id":18106,"date":"2026-07-26T19:17:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T14:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=18106"},"modified":"2026-07-26T19:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T14:17:37","slug":"meeting-obama-then-lighting-up-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=18106","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Obama, then lighting up the game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/26\/WNBA_All_Star_Basketball_32944_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>CHICAGO \u2014 Caitlin Clark had a memorable weekend that started with meeting former President Barack Obama and ended with a stellar effort in her first traditional All-Star Game.<\/p>\n<p>In between were sponsor events with Nike, State Farm and Wilson that had hundreds of fans of all ages and genders &#8211; many wearing her No. 22 jersey &#8211; lined up for hours, hoping to get a high-five, autograph or even just a glimpse of the Indiana Fever star. \u201cI\u2019m excited this weekend is packed with a lot of stuff,\u201d Clark said at the Wilson event to unveil her new line of basketballs. \u201cI never want to take for granted (All-Star weekend).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was Clark\u2019s first traditional All-Star Game; she missed last year\u2019s in Indianapolis because she was injured. Her rookie season in 2024 featured a highly competitive game in which the U.S. Olympic team played the WNBA All-Stars. There was added tension for that one because many felt Clark should have been on the Olympic squad for Paris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time you get to put on a uniform and play an All-Star Game is really special. It\u2019s really a unique experience for myself as I never really got to play in a true All-Star Game (before),\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, she got involved quickly, much to the delight of the record All-Star crowd of 19,783 at the United Center. Clark scored her team\u2019s first eight points, getting a steal for a layup and then hitting one of her signature deep 3-pointers. A few minutes later she nailed an even deeper 3 that would have been from the 4-point spot that was used in last year\u2019s game. The league got rid of it this year to Clark\u2019s dismay.<\/p>\n<p>Despite not having the opportunity for the bonus point, Clark had fun Saturday helping her team to the 129-122 win, taking Obama\u2019s words in their conversation to heart when he told her \u201cdon\u2019t lose the joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/multimedia\/collection\/caitlin-clarks-whirlwind-star-weekend-2026-07\/\" target=\"_blank\">PHOTOS: Caitlin Clark\u2019s whirlwind All-Star weekend: Meeting Obama, then lighting up the game<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\"\/>\n<p>Clark admitted her hands were sweaty and clammy when she met Obama. She asked for a photo with him &#8211; a question that\u2019s posed to her countless times a day.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After meeting Obama, Clark\u2019s day was full of sponsor activities. She went to WNBA Live, a fanfest where many of the league\u2019s sponsors having exhibits. She participated in a musical chairs shooting game at the State Farm exhibit, which had hundreds of fans watching.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after she was acting as a hype woman for a few lucky girls who competed in a similar contest. The winner got a pair of Clark\u2019s shoes. There was also a stop at the Nike girls basketball tournament to see her former AAU team the Iowa Attack.<\/p>\n<p>Then it was the trip to Wilson to unveil her new line of basketballs.<\/p>\n<p>For a few days, Clark could just enjoy basketball and not have to deal with the outside noise that has surrounded her since she entered the league in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s back to the grind as the Fever play in Seattle on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"permission\" style=\"padding-top: 25px;\">\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.\n                        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO \u2014 Caitlin Clark had a memorable weekend that started with meeting former President Barack Obama and ended with a stellar effort in her first traditional All-Star Game. In between were sponsor events with Nike, State Farm and Wilson that had hundreds of fans of all ages and genders &#8211; many wearing her No. 22&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/26\/WNBA_All_Star_Basketball_32944_c0-278-6681-4175_s1200x700.jpg?cd3c737b52cc472e64d15635ef78b818dc9cbaa9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}