There have been plenty of people making a run at Caitlin Clark during her rookie season in the WNBA, as defenses hone in on the Indiana Fever’s star guard as the focal point of their defensive game plan.
Clark hasn’t been one to back down from the competition, however, and after draining a big three-pointer against the Seattle Storm on Thursday night, she could be seen getting face-to-face with one of her opponents.
While walking back on defense after her deep three, Clark could be seen jawing back and forth with Storm’s Victoria Vivians. The pair got up close and in each other’s faces before Aliyah Boston swooped in and pulled her teammate out of the situation.
Clark didn’t look too pleased with Vivians as she turned to head back down the court, and they appeared to bump shoulders before being separated.
Officials assessed Vivians and Clark with double technical fouls and play resumed shortly after. Thursday’s incident marks the second technical of the season for Indiana’s prized rookie, having picked up her first in a game against the Connecticut Sun on May 20.
Caitlin Clark has the entire sports talk industry turned upside down right now. Clark and the Indiana Fever have been playing nonstop since the season started and between the attention and pressure, she has struggledout of the gate. On top of that there's how she's being treated by other teams, which has not been very nicely, culminating in a cheap shot from Chennedy Carter over the weekend.
On Monday's episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the eponymous host got out from behind the desk and did a whole presentation about how important Clark is and how jealous all the haters are. He did this is in a McAfee-specific fashion as he swore on ESPN and identified Clark as the "white b----" who has lifted the entire sport.
"I would like the media people that continue to say this rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class. Nah. Just call it for what it is," said McAfee. "There's one white b---- for this Indiana team who is a superstar. And is it because she stayed in Iowa, put an entire team on her back, took a program from nothing to a multiple-year success story?"
"Is it because she would go on to break the entire points records in the history of the NCAA? Not just the women's by Kelsea Plum - shout out - but also "Pistol" Pete Maravich's. The dude's record as well. Is there a chance that people just like watching her play basketball? Because of how electrifying she is. What she did. What she stood for. How she went about going what she went for? Maybe. But instead we have to hear people say that we only like her because she's white. And she's only popular because the rest of the rookie class is doing what they're doing. That's a bunch of bulls----. And we think the WNBA, more specifically, their refs, need to stop trying to screw her over at every single turn. What you have is somebody special. And we're lucky to have her in Indiana."
McAfee also discussed the "Eminem effect," playing a clip of 50 Cent saying people didn't want to give Eminem credit because he was white. "Let's just take that into the WNBA situation," said McAfee. "That it is just a bunch of racist people who will only watch if a white superstar is there." Then the show put up pictures of Diana Taurasi, Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart. "I think what we're trying to say is what the WNBA currently has is what we like to describe as a cash cow. There is a superstar."
All-in-all, a very colorful presentation by McAfee, who continues to make it clear that he can do whatever he wants on ESPN. Including defending Clark by trying to make sense of why so many people apparently hate her. By whatever means necessary.
1. You rarely see Stephen A. Smith left speechless, but that was the case on Monday morningâs episode of First Take thanks to panelist Monica McNutt.
After a discussion on Chennedy Carterâs cheap shot foul on Caitlin Clark that was the talk of the sports world over the weekend, Smith tried to take credit for his show giving extensive coverage to the WNBA.
McNutt, however, was not having it.
âWho talks about the WNBA, who talks about womenâs sports more than First Take,â asked Stephen A.
McNutt was not having the revisionist history.
âStephen A., respectfully, with your platform you couldâve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,â replied McNutt.
This left Smith stunned and all he could muster was a pair of back-to-back âwows.â
A little back-and-forth followed:
McNutt: âYou know youâre my guyâŚâ
Smith: âWho does more than us?â
McNutt: âStephen A., Iâm talking to you. Donât do that. Iâm talking to you about the power than you have.â
Smith: âOK, OK. I got it. Youâre my girl, but you missed a lot episodes of First Take. You missed a lot.â
McNutt: âStephen A., three years ago you would not talk about the WNBA at this level. Donât do that.â
Itâs one thing for McNutt to disagree with Stephen A., but after he challenged her, she doubled down and didnât back down. That was impressive.
Sadly, moderator Molly Qerim cut off the discussion, which couldâve been riveting television of McNutt and Smith continued to argue over First Takeâs coverage of the WNBA.
I donât want to paint the media with one brush, but as someone who covers this stuff, Iâd say 99% of sprots media, including First Take, did not cover the WNBA the way theyâre covering it now. And even now, theyâre not covering the WNBA.
Theyâre covering Caitlin Clark.
2. I donât follow the WNBA, so I donât know what the unwritten rules are or what protocol is for something like this. However, if Iâm just comparing it to the NBA game, what I donât understand about the foul that Chennedy Carter committed against Caitlin Clark is how none of Clarkâs Fever teammates went after Carter and just let her get away with the cheap shot.
It's also good to see the refs in the WNBA are just as incompetent as the refs in all the other sports by calling this a common foul. (It got changed to a Flagrant-1 the following day.)
3. Since there has been a massive amount of coverage regarding the future of Inside the NBA over the past few weeks (especially in this column), I thought this nugget was worth sharing.
Last Thursday, more people watched Inside the NBA on TNT (2.8 million) after the Mavericks eliminated the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals than Game 5 of the Panthers-Rangers Eastern Conference Finals game on ESPN (2.1 million).
4. As proven here by Clemson, all of baseball needs more attempts at the hidden ball trick.
5. It has to be demoralizing for a hometown team when the fans in the stands are rooting for the opponent. Look at what took place in the San Francisco Giantsâ ballpark on Sunday when New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 9th.
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Charles Barkley.
The Inside the NBA host discusses the possibility of TNT losing the NBA in the current television rights negotiations, his frustration with the lack of communication from Warner Brothers Discovery about the negotiations, whether the show could continue on another network, reaction from fans to the possible end of Inside the NBA, the awkwardness of still having to work next season for TNT if it loses the NBA beginning in the 2025â26 season, and the lack of loyalty from the NBA and what would make him decide between ESPN, NBC and Amazon if he became a free agent.
Barkley also goes off on CNN for never telling him that his show with Gayle King, King Charles, was canceled, he explains what could make him be the subject of a comedy roast, who the two nicest GOATS are in sports, the Lakers saying that LeBron James doesn't have a say in their coaching search and the reaction to his recent Caitlin Clark rant.
Following Barkley, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for the weekly âTraina Thoughtsâ segment. This week's topics include the passing of Bill Walton, Ăngel HernĂĄndez's retirement from Major League Baseball, the mystery behind the Dov Kleiman Twitter account and the latest story about a restaurant charging for a ridiculous service.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since hard fouls against Caitlin Clark are all the rage these days, letâs take a look at some of the hardest fouls in NBA history.
Caitlin Clark is a supporter of all women's sports, not just the WNBA.
Prior to Clark's game with the Indiana Fever on Friday night, an 85-83 Fever win over the winless Washington Mystics, the rookie was asked if she had tuned into Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, which had tipped off Thursday night.
Clark's response was perfect.
"To be honest, I had the womenâs college softball world series on instead," Clark said. "It was a little bit better of a game, but when I flipped back to the NBA... Yeah I was flipping back and forth."
"Thereâs a girl that pitches for Texas whoâs a freshman that actually lived a couple streets over from me growing up, so I was rooting for the Texas Longhorns, unfortunately, they couldn't get it done. I think that's even just a great display of women's sports and where it's going. I've always been a big fan of women's softball and women's sports across the board, so I was moreso watching that."
Clark did acknowledge that she's watching the finals, though she also admitted that the Indiana Pacers, who lost to the Boston Celtics in the conference finals, not making it affected her interest levels a bit.
But the bigger point here is Clark's unwavering support for women's sports across the board. As arguably the biggest driver of interest in the WNBA at the moment, Clark has the ability to help lift up nearly any other women's sport she supports or has an interest in.
Clark was doing just that by bringing attention to the women's college softball world series.