After typing the above I think I get the conflict which comes from the word I used "value".
I think the reason the league is rejecting Clark (like the body rejects a transplanted organ needed to live) is because the implication that they are not valuable. A lot of ink has been spilled about how crappy WNBA was before Clark-- all the same business metrics on revenue and salaries and attendance and popularity in the gutter) and the implication and unsaid message I think they are hearing is:
"you women are not valuable",
"you, as an individual basketballer, are not valuable", and
"you, without Caitlin Clark, are not valuable".
And not to get too political or controversial, but it seems like it's an easy leap to go from that to,
"black, queer women are not valuable",
and "without a straight white hope, a queer black league is not valuable"
And when people feel devalued it's a core identity crisis and emotional and psychological issue that can be existential. So that helps explain to me why it feels irrational -- because when most people feel that deeply wounded, most aren't going to respond with logic and math.
I could be way off but just a thought that unlocked for me as I wrote the last post and that word "value" jumped out at me.