It’s become quite the norm for players during their post-game press conferences to move any product they’re not sponsored by away from the cameras’ line of sight.
When Caitlin Clark did this next to Ty Harris, she may inadvertently put more money into her teammate’s pocket.
Ty Harris Might’ve Just Snagged an Endorsement Deal Off a Single Interaction
In the Fever’s most recent post-game presser, Harris was paired up with CC. During this, Clark noticed an Olipop bottle on the table next to her microphone.
She moved the bottle away and set it on the ground, prompting Harris to question her. “Why do y’all superstars be doing that? Because y’all are not sponsored by them?” asked Harris.
Clark’s response was fairly nonchalant as she said, “No, I don’t drink Olipop.” While Clark doesn’t drink this specific beverage, she’s not sponsored by them either.
The only beverage company that Clark has publicly aligned herself with is PepsiCo’s Gatorade. This was to be expected, however, given how iconic the brand’s relationship has been with basketball’s top-most stars.
In response to CC’s statement, Harris gleefully put her Olipop down as well, leading to Clark saying, “Somebody else sign her.”
Ty asked Caitlin why she put the drink on the ground
Ty: “why yall superstars be doing that? because yall not sponsored by them?”
Caitlin: “no I don’t drink Olipop.”
then Ty put the can down too lmfao pic.twitter.com/8hOVjtrzvf
— correlation (@nosyone4) August 15, 2026
In a stroke of genius marketing, the official Olipop X account reposted this, tagged her, and wrote the caption, “Gurl, let’s have a chat.”
@TyHarris_52 gurl let’s chat https://t.co/3g9V7uZpWy
— OLIPOP (@drinkolipop) August 16, 2026
This then led Harris to respond with a flirtatious “Oop heyyyy,” signaling to the brand that she’d perhaps love to collaborate with them.
Oop heyyyy 😆 https://t.co/7JLVO22G0e
— Tyasha Harris (@TyHarris_52) August 16, 2026
This isn’t the first time that a superstar has refused to showcase a product that isn’t sponsored by them. Kawhi Leonard famously removes bottles of Gatorade from the table during pressers, claiming, “Kids don’t need to be drinking that.”
On the flipside, players also use this as a platform to promote drinks that they’ve invested in.
D’Angelo Russell, a couple of years ago, placed a bottle of Coco5 near his mic during multiple pressers during the Playoffs. He’d invested in this company alongside close friend, Devin Booker. He did this as quite the clever and inexpensive marketing gimmick to bring more attention to the brand.
As for Harris, it’s unclear if she’ll land this sponsorship with Olipop.
All signs point to her snagging this deal. She isn’t new to the world of sponsorships either. She became the first female basketball player to sign an shoe endorsement deal with Under Armour in 2020.
If this partnership with Olipop and Harris works out, expect to see quite the spectacle in terms of advertising, given how public a forum the two entities interacted on.
