The Caitlin Clark Controversy

The loudest opinions are often wrong.

Disclaimer: There will be limited curse words used in this column.

Where do I even begin? There have been so many hot takes (bad takes?) about Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, and we’re not even one month into the season. It’s been a lot to take in. It’s overwhelming at times. It’s frustrating. You can’t escape it if you live within this WNBA world. And that world has gotten significantly larger in scope in such a short amount of time. At times, there are some valid points. Other times, you just want to bash your head against a wall. Let’s try to start towards the beginning.

Caitlin Clark, the college phenom out of Iowa, transcended the normal sphere of women’s basketball due to her incredible shooting ability, especially from long distances well past the standard three-point line. In a lot of ways, Clark excited and inspired fans and drew attention because her game mirrored that of Steph Curry. Curry has been one of the most popular NBA superstars over the past decade leading the Golden State Warriors to four NBA Championships between 2015 and 2022. Curry changed the landscape of the men’s game with his three-point shooting. Clark has done something similar for women’s college basketball.

Clark received some notoriety during her early seasons in college but her popularity exploded in her final two years where she led Iowa to back-to-back Final Four wins and two appearances in the National Championship game. She, alongside LSU’s Angel Reese, and the South Carolina dynasty made women’s college basketball more popular than it’s ever been before.

Not only did Clark thrill fans with her exceptional shooting. But her unapologetic braggadocios attitude drew in even more fans. Men love a good shit-talker. Seeing her bust a three-pointer in her defender’s face and then pull a John Cena “You Can’t See Me” (waving hand motion) just enhanced their adoration for her. Caitlin learned to become a showman and learned that audiences would eat it up. Not only was she breaking records, knocking down near-half-court shots, but she was doing it with bravado that only led to her increased popularity. Simply put, Caitlin Clark became the most popular college basketball player. Not just in the women’s game. In all of college basketball.

This led to sold-out arenas all over the country during her senior season. This led to the most-watched National Championship game of all time, with 18.7 Million viewers.

Clark continued to break records leading into her pro career. The WNBA Draft set a new record with 2.45 Million views. Her first WNBA game had 2.12 Million views. Clark has proven to be a big box office draw.

But once the games started happening Clark was given a rude welcome to the WNBA. The Connecticut Sun beat the Indiana Fever 92-71. In her second game, the New York Liberty crushed the Fever 102-66. In Clark’s third game, she was absolutely demolished by a legal screen set by Breanna Stewart that blindsided her.

Between some tough physical defense against Caitlin Clark from players like DiJonai Carrington, and Betnijah Laney, and that stiff screen by Stewart, the narratives about WNBA players hating Caitlin Clark began to surface.

Those sentiments were then escalated by Charles Barkley’s public comments on National TV during the NBA’s Western Conference Finals to support the story that all of the other WNBA players hated Caitlin Clark, they were being petty, they were jealous of Caitlin Clark, and that they needed to ease off of her because she’s the one bringing the league all these new viewers and money.

That narrative continued to grow. More men (and women) picked up this new story through National TV programs or social media and regurgitated those ideas to even more people. Just like a virus, those ideas spread to more and more people.

This reaffirmed what die-hard Clark and Iowa basketball fans had been saying to themselves. That Clark was being mistreated. She was being roughed up. These WNBA players were being mean to her. And fouling her any chance they got. How else could you explain Clark’s early-season struggles?

The reality is that the WNBA is an extremely physical league. While the NBA has gotten softer over the years. The WNBA has become even more physical. Present-day WNBA is more similar to the 80’s/90’s NBA than the current NBA. The larger audience that has watched the men’s game, but not the women’s, are surprised by the physicality.

Hell, the WNBA made a commercial themselves before this season started about the rough, physical play, and trash-talk that takes place within the league.

So is there any truth to the claims that other WNBA players are jealous of Caitlin Clark? The answer is … Yes. I have to believe some are. But only because jealousy and envy are a part of human nature. It’s been around since before the creation of religion. It’s a quality that’s been inside human beings since mankind first existed.

In our own lives, who can read this column and state you’ve never been jealous of someone else? Maybe it was your coworker that got a promotion you felt you deserved. Maybe someone else has a nicer car or a bigger house. We all have moments where we might be jealous of someone else.

So yes, I believe some players are jealous of Caitlin Clark. Potentially jealous of her fame, recognition, the credit she’s received, the endorsement deals, and money she’s made, etc. I think we’d be lying if we said not a single WNBA player was ever jealous.

Even if some players may be envious. That doesn’t mean they all are of Clark. Those are two very different distinctions. And even for those that could be, being jealous doesn’t mean they hate her. Being physical on a basketball court in a professional sport doesn’t mean these players are jealous or have hatred in their hearts. It just means they are extremely competitive and want to win.

Unfortunately, this past Saturday, we had a legitimate incident between Clark and the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter. With the basketball not even in play, Carter came from behind Clark and blindsided her with a forceful hip check knocking Caitlin to the ground. To make matters worse, for those that can read lips, you can see Chennedy Carter mouth the words “You bitch!” before she strikes Clark.

There is no defending this. There is no excusing this. I don’t care if Clark had been talking trash or getting physical earlier in the game before this incident. This was completely uncalled for.

Sadly, this fuels the fire for those who are claiming WNBA players are out to get Caitlin Clark. This legitimizes some of those claims. Now the people that were full of crap making up lies about the WNBA have some actual legitimate context to work with. They can use it to back their narratives.

It should come as no surprise that this was all over social media. The above video blew up and was trending worldwide. It has more national media, ESPN talking heads, etc. reporting on it. This can lead to more theories that these players have a bounty out on Caitlin Clark and want to take her out.

Other agendas are happening here as well by certain people or groups. Another rookie, Angel Reese, has also taken physical shots early on during her WNBA career. When the Sky played New York, Jonquel Jones pushed her to the ground as they were running up the court. Alyssa Thomas slammed Reese to the ground by her throat. Thomas was even ejected from the game for that as the refs acknowledged the excessive contact. But from a media perspective, there wasn’t a peep. Maybe a little on social media but certainly not a big national news story like we’ve seen from Clark.

I believe a lot of that is racially motivated. Jones or Thomas roughing up Angel Reese isn’t a big news story because it’s black women getting physical with other black women. But when they see a black woman attack a white woman, now it has to be a national news story.

The Sports Business Journal previously reported that white WNBA players receive between two to five times the amount of media coverage as black WNBA players. For Clark, it might be 100 times.

We’re now seeing these different groups with their own agendas commenting on stuff they really don’t know anything about. Claiming this popular white basketball player is being hated on by a predominantly black league. Then they use that to take their shots and disparage the league. And to create division among the audience.

That was likely made worse when Pat McAfee, one of the most popular sports shows on ESPN and YouTube, called Clark a “White Bitch” on his show on Monday.

Ironically, Pat was saying it in more of a supportive manner. Like she’s “THAT BITCH”. She’s the superstar! She’s the man! McAfee, who’s built his show up as a much more casual male group chat compared to the suit and ties on Sportscenter, got a little too relaxed and casual with his comments. He did later contact Clark and apologized to her.

The attention McAfee or someone like Stephen A. Smith can bring to the WNBA is significantly higher than what the league is used to. But with the good comes a lot of bad too.

The comments from some of these groups used to say “Make me a sandwich” or “Go back to the kitchen”. Now they’re saying that the only good popular player is being hated on by a bunch of jealous ingrates.

Many claim they’re going to stop watching the WNBA if the rest of the league continues to treat Caitlin Clark this way. Except they usually spell her name as Caitlyn or Kaitlyn showing how big of a fan they truly are. The people who never watched the WNBA to begin with are threatening to stop watching now. It’s just another excuse to try to put down this league.

Sue Bird probably said it best in the past when talking about why the WNBA’s popularity has struggled to grow at times. She blamed the “-isms”. Sexism, Racism, Homophobism, etc.

There are facts blended in with the nonsense. Caitlin Clark is a big deal. Clark is a superstar. She’s a money-maker and a massive ratings draw.

The Seattle Storm wouldn’t sell 18,300 seats for a random Tuesday night WNBA game if Caitlin Clark wasn’t coming to town. The Los Angeles Sparks wouldn’t have had over 19,000 fans inside the Staples Center, a larger crowd than any LA Lakers game this season, if Caitlin Clark didn’t show up in LA.

Yes, the WNBA has been growing consistently for several years now; before Clark was even a household name. But Caitlin is a needle-mover. She is the catalyst that is taking everything to a whole other level. To state otherwise isn’t being truthful.

WNBA fans and WNBA journalists are going to have to prepare for a world that we aren’t used to. One that is growing exponentially at an amazing and sometimes alarming rate.

Overall, this will be a great thing. The growth of the league is going to lead to a lot of wonderful things including more expansion teams, more roster spots, and more money for the players. But there will also be some negatives to come along with us on this ride. Just remember, the loudest opinions aren’t always the correct ones.