It’s pretty obvious that some WNBA players don’t like Caitlin Clark too much.
Which should turn out to be a pretty good thing for the WNBA.
The anti-Caitlin sentiment has become clearer with each passing game. It broke out in the biggest way on Saturday, when Chicago’s Chennedy Carter shouldered an unsuspecting Clark, knocking him to the ground. Carter’s teammate Angel Reese, a former college rival of Clark’s, applauded the move from the bench.
This was a clear escalation from some one-on-one play between the two during previous possessions, including Clark appearing to throw an elbow at Carter and appearing to say something to his face.
Clark is a marked woman and that is adding a lot of spice to a season in which, unlike in college, she cannot dominate the competition.
Anyone expecting 40-point performances with Magic Johnson-type passing was always going to be disappointed. Watching Clark fight against adversity and accumulate rivals will have to be quite dramatic. Also, Indiana is terrible.
Clark was just 1 of 10 from the field and scored just three points in Sunday’s loss to New York. She left that game with an apparent ear injury after being hit against a screen.
The league clearly believes they can physically throw her off her game, a fairly common tactic against young players at all levels of basketball.
“We understand who the head of the monster is on that team,” New York veteran guard Sabrina Ionescu said of Clark. “We’re trying to make everything tough and difficult.”
Part of this is just business. Some things, however, seem personal. Neither of them are wrong.
Maybe it’s his fame. Maybe it’s his money. Maybe it’s the attention it demands. Maybe it’s just being the standout rookie who still needs to prove himself. You will find all these motivations in other sports and also in other circumstances.
Or maybe it’s just that Clark also plays a tough, physical and direct game.
Whatever it is, the spiciness (and jostling) has become a constant and that should add a bit of interest to things. The most popular sport in the United States? Controversy. Nothing like some bad blood and uncertainty about what might happen next to draw fans in, or at least keep them as Clark’s game goes from strength to strength.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that,” Clark said of the shoulder drop. “But it’s like, ‘Just respond, calm down and let your game do the talking. It is what it is. It’s a physical game, make the free throw and then execute on offense.’ I feel like that’s what we did.”
Carter, for his part, did not want to discuss it with the media, but expressed his points on social media.
“Besides three-point shooting, what does she bring to the table?” Carter asked in a post.
He later accepted the reaction of those who sided with Clark.
“I grew up with all the brothers,” wrote Carter, a fourth-year player. “All we did was fight and argue. “I love hate more than love… I’d rather you hate me (than) love me and I mean it with my dead aunt.”
The mere fact that “I want to say that about my dead aunt” has entered the lexicon is enough to make this brouhaha fun.
What would make it even better is if everyone adopted what seems to be the Caitlin Clark mentality: this is no big deal. Carter’s shoulder was considered a Flagrant 1 foul by the league, but there will be no discipline. The way to end this is courtesy of a hard screen or a putback or, best of all, Clark using it as motivation to win.
The fact that Golden State’s Draymond Green has weighed in by saying that the Fever need to hire an “enforcer” to protect their star (as Green has done with Steph Curry, who suffered from constant physical problems) and most of people agreed, it’s a small victory for the legitimacy of women’s sport. . There are no children’s gloves here. Play ball.
Yes, ideally every match should be played with sportsmanship and respect, but that is not how it is played in the real world, especially in competitive sports. Many fans wouldn’t want that either.
In a purely business sense, WNBA players should love Caitlin Clark for the sponsorship money, fan attention and media coverage she’s bringing to a league that hasn’t really broken through in more than a quarter-century. of existence.
Maybe Carter is right and Clark’s rookie game is based primarily on three-point shooting. It’s a big adjustment from the college rankings, where there are only a few good teams and players, versus the W, with only 144 roster spots with the best players in the world. It’s only fitting that Clark continues to adapt and display the passing, scoring and leadership skills he demonstrated at Iowa.
What Clark does bring, without a doubt, is attention. If this happens a year ago, with another player, then only die-hard fans will know. Or be careful.
Everything’s bigger with Caitlin Clark, which is why that punch turned heads and won’t stop until she hits back one way or another.
Caitlin Clark was never going to instantly overwhelm the WNBA. It will be worth watching her attempt to get there, against those who don’t seem to care about her at all.
