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Are WNBA Players Really Being ‘Petty’ About Caitlin Clark?

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Photo: Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty Images

In April, fresh off two record-breaking games and decked out in a Prada skirt suit, Caitlin Clark was drafted to the Indiana Fever. The NCAA superstar has been hailed as a game-changer for professional women’s basketball, but her first month in the WNBA has been a little rocky. She lost five consecutive games with the Fever and briefly turned a corner this weekend when she banked her first WNBA win over the L.A. Sparks before losing to the same team this week. She did, however, manage to make league history, becoming the first rookie to record 30 points, three blocks, and three steals in one game.

Meanwhile, fans and sports commentators are speculating that the rookie hasn’t exactly gotten a warm welcome from her new colleagues. Some say older WNBA players are jealous of how much credit she’s being given for the league’s newfound attention. Others think this is typical treatment for a rookie with a big reputation, and Clark has been compared to a number of NBA players, including Michael Jordan and LeBron James, whose hyped-up entries into the league were swiftly checked by their fellow players. The official line from most players has been that the WNBA is happy to have Clark onboard and a rising tide lifts all boats. So are any of these rumors true? Here’s what we know.

A handful of WNBA greats seem to have a chilly attitude toward Clark.

Even before she went pro, a handful of more senior WNBA players — including some no longer in the league — made public comments that were interpreted as antagonistic toward Clark. In early April, after she broke two NCAA scoring records, New York Liberty power forward Breanna Stewart told a reporter she didn’t think the then–Iowa star could be considered one of women’s college basketball’s greats because she hadn’t won her team a championship. Around the same time, college-basketball legend Lynette Woodard suggested during a coaches’ convention that Clark hadn’t broken her scoring record because they weren’t playing under the same rules. Another former player, Sheryl Swoopes, also attempted to undercut one of Clark’s accomplishments, incorrectly claiming that her scoring record wasn’t valid because she had been playing for more than four years.

Another comment seen as shade came from Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, who was asked about the up-and-coming crop of college superstars (which included both Clark and Angel Reese) during an ESPN interview ahead of the 2024 draft. “Reality is coming,” Taurasi said of her future colleagues’ entry into the big leagues. “You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.” She referred to a “transition period” in which, she said, “you’re just going to have to give yourself grace as a rookie.” Later, responding to the controversy her statement stirred up, Taurasi called fans “really sensitive.”

And then there’s A’ja Wilson, the Las Vegas Aces star who was accused of being jealous of Clark after tweeting, “Psalm 37:7,” referencing a biblical verse about being patient while others succeed, amid news that Clark was about to sign a record-breaking sneaker deal with Nike. Wilson, who is also signed to Nike — and ended up releasing her own sneaker less than a month later — responded to the rumors with another tweet. “No one is jealous bookie!” she said. “Our league is hard as hell so to thrive and to stay in it consistently is huge!”

Wilson has also acknowledged what a lot of fans have speculated is the source of some animosity toward Clark: That she’s a white woman who has found unprecedented success in a predominantly Black league. Wilson recently told AP News that she felt Clark’s whiteness was a “huge” factor in her popularity. “You can be top-notch at what you are as a Black woman,” she said, but “they don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work.” She added, “It boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”

Other players seem to be gunning for Clark during games.

A lot of Clark’s on-court success has been hindered by what seems to be the relentless defense against her, which sports commentators have argued is pretty typical for such a major talent with a ton of attention stepping into the league for the first time. (The word target and “Everyone’s coming for her” have been thrown around a lot.) Last week, the New York Post called a particularly painful-looking screen from Stewart the rookie’s “latest welcome-to-WNBA moment,” suggesting the rough-and-tumble treatment Clark is getting is par for the course. Opposing teams seem so fixated on keeping her at bay that one player recently bolted over to guard her, not realizing she had a second free throw to take before they could even resume playing.

For her part, Clark has mostly shied away from throwing accusations. After Tuesday’s game against the Sparks, she told reporters, “I think everybody’s physical with me. They get away with things, you know, probably other people don’t.” But, she added, “It’s a very physical game. That’s just professional basketball.”

LeBron James and Charles Barkley have gone out of their way to defend Clark.

NBA star LeBron James, who tweeted in April that “if you don’t rock with Caitlin Clark game you’re just a FLAT OUT HATER!!!!!” dedicated a few minutes on a recent episode of his podcast, Mind the Game, to Clark’s dynamic in the WNBA. His co-host, former NBA player JJ Redick, claimed there was “definitely a dislike or vitriol coming her way” from “older players,” adding, “We all experienced that to some degree when we first got in the NBA.” James, who was himself a buzzy first-draft pick when he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers straight out of high school in 2003 — and who also landed an eye-watering Nike endorsement before even playing a game — said he’s “rooting for Caitlin because I’ve been in that seat before.” Referencing the league’s recent push to give all its teams private travel instead of having them fly commercial — a newly expanded program that was first launched in 2023 — he said, “Don’t get it twisted. Caitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things are gonna happen for the WNBA.”

James and Redick aren’t the only NBA players rushing to Clark’s defense. During a TNT segment, Charles Barkley really ran with James’s comments, particularly the one about how WNBA players fly. “You women out there,” he said — a promising start to any sentence — “y’all petty, man.” Presumably addressing other WNBA players, he went on, “Y’all should be thanking that girl for getting y’all ass private charters, all the money and visibility she’s bringing to the WNBA.” He told Clark’s colleagues to “stop being petty like dudes” and to thank her for “bringing all that money and shine to the WNBA.” (If you listen closely, you can hear Draymond Green correctly muttering in the background, “They gonna hate you even more.”)

WNBA players have pushed back on the idea that they dislike Clark.

Even if there is tension toward Clark in the WNBA, the players definitely did not take kindly to hearing they’re being petty. Barkley’s 60-second diatribe rubbed a lot of players and coaches the wrong way. L.A. Sparks player Dearica Hamby retweeted Barkley’s rant with a dismissive “Seriously…. Wtf are you talking about…” Former L.A. Sparks team member Chiney Ogwumike wrote, “Every WNBA player I know supports this rookie class and are grateful for the spotlight & money that Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and co. are bringing to the W!” She also claimed the league had started to use chartered planes last year because of safety concerns and increased revenue. One New York Liberty player, Jonquel Jones, said she was “interested to know who are all the woman that are hating on” Clark.

Clark’s fellow rookie Angel Reese also referenced Barkley’s diatribe while celebrating the Chicago Sky’s win against the New York Liberty. “And that’s on getting a WIN in a packed arena, not just ’cause of one player on our charter flight,” she wrote on Twitter. She quickly deleted the post, which was widely interpreted as a slight toward Clark, though Reese’s mother — who also played college basketball — later clarified that the post was “directed towards the media.”

On Friday, a day before facing off against Clark in a Fever-Aces game, A’ja Wilson and her coach, Becky Hammon, took another opportunity to shut down the rumors. “This narrative of everybody hating on Caitlin Clark, and even the black-and-white thing, it’s not there,” Hammon said in a mid-practice interview. Adding that Clark is “a 22-year-old woman with a lot of pressure,” she succinctly told commenters to “back off.” Wilson nodded along next to her, adding that she is “exhausted of the conversation” and that Clark is “learning and growing just like everyone else.” Hammon said she “doesn’t really care” who’s responsible for the league getting private jets: “What I care about is they see how great women’s basketball is.” Wilson’s only addition? “Period.”

Related

  • Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever Debut Drew a Record Crowd



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Danielle Cohen , 2024-05-30 01:04:46

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