Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum made waves after last month's WNBA All-Star Game when she fired a jab at Team Clark amid the league's collective bargaining negotiations. With those comments and the widespread reaction in the rearview, Plum clarified what she said was a "bad joke."

Players at the All-Star Game wore "Pay Us What You Owe Us" shirts during warmups in a statement to the league. Plum said in the postgame press conference that the players held a meeting to coordinate the movement the morning of the All-Star showcase but that "zero members of Team Clark were very present for that."

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Plum said the jab was all in good fun and a reference to the players' hangovers from partying the night before the game, not their ambition to participate in the movement and the CBA negotiations.

"I should have known it was a way more serious moment than a typical All-Star Game," Plum said on Sue Bird's podcast, "Bird's Eye View." "Because I went into that press conference very happy-go-lucky. We won. Had a great weekend. My family was here. It was just a great time. Questions came in, and it was like, 'CBA, this, this, this, this.' I honestly was like, 'Hey, Team Clark, they didn't make it to the meeting either.' Just making a joke, trying to make the room lighter."

The league's CBA expires Oct. 31 and was a major topic in Indianapolis during the All-Star festivities. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert met with WNBPA staff and over 40 players in what she called "productive" talks. The players have maintained throughout the negotiations that a lockout is on the table but that it is a last resort. Salaries are a major sticking point in the negotiations, largely because of the WNBA's rapid growth and resulting financial windfall.

"Obviously we're all on the same page," Plum said. "We all wore the shirts. We're all unified. I think, if anything, I was more discouraged because I felt like it took away from the moment of what we were trying to do."

Plum lamented that comments are often taken out of context or misconstrued on social media and said she elected not to speak up immediately after the "bad joke" caused a stir because a response would have come across as defensive.

Plum earned her spot in the All-Star Game with another fantastic first half of the season at the guard spot. She is on pace to contend for a career high in scoring with her 20.0 points per game, just shy of the 20.2 she logged in 2022 when she finished third in MVP voting. Plum, in her first year with the Sparks, is also on track to break her personal-best mark in assists with 6.1 per game.