Almost anyone would benefit from the stage the NBA All-Star Game provides, particularly if it meant the opportunity to compete against Stephen Curry. But Caitlin Clark isn’t just anyone.

The assumption had been that Clark would partake in a special 3-point contest at the upcoming NBA All-Star festivities in San Francisco. And while the exact format pitched isn’t public, the reporting indicated it would have also involved the likes of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Sabrina Ionescu.

However, Clark made it official through her representatives that this will not be happening, and with good reason.

“Caitlin will not be at NBA All-Star,” her reps at Excel Sports Management said in a statement Wednesday. “She wants her first three-point contest to be at WNBA All-Star in Indianapolis this summer.”

In short, by turning down the NBA, Clark is not only making a gesture in favor of home fans of the Indiana Fever, but she is also harnessing her star power to benefit the entire WNBA.

Of course, Clark is in a unique position to do so. Since she can stand next to the biggest stars in the men’s game as an equal in notoriety and influence, it is easily arguable she is on the level of titans of the game such as Curry and LeBron James. And she very well may be the face of basketball going forward.

Which means instead of bringing her motion to the NBA’s event, she can save that moment to boost her own league.

Regardless of all the noise around her Clark has made it a mission statement to uplift women’s basketball, something this decision would support.

Ionescu’s participation at the NBA event last year was certainly a spectacle that made an impact on fans and served as an inspiration for young boys and girls alike. But since then we’ve seen an unprecedented explosion in the WNBA, with Clark as the catalyst.

So it makes sense that she would hold the cards in this situation. And in doing so, Clark is showing that she is just as big a deal as the NBA’s All-Stars are. This means her team and her league get first bids.