Saturday’s game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky was supposed to be a celebration of the WNBA’s most heralded rookie class ever, with Fever guard Caitlin Clark squaring off against Sky forward Angel Reese and center Kamilla Cardoso.
While still a memorable game—Indiana won 71–70—it became yet another unfortunate referendum on Clark’s reputation throughout the league.
Late in the third quarter, Chicago guard Chennedy Carter slammed into Clark on an inbounds pass and was called for an off-ball foul.
When the quarter was over, Clark was asked about the foul.
“Yeah, that’s just not a basketball play,” Clark said via The New York Post. “But you know I’ve gotta play through it, that’s what basketball is about at this level.”
Chennedy Carter fouls Caitlin Clark on the inbound. Away-from-play foul called. pic.twitter.com/LodLF5oKMF
The Indiana Fever have been the hottest ticket in women's basketball, having hosted the largest audiences in the WNBA throughout the first few weeks of the season.
Since drafting former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, the Fever have been selling tickets at unprecedented rates. In fact, the Fever's home attendance through five games this season has already surpassed their total home attendance from last year, according to Front Office Sports.
Data from Across the Timeline indicates that Indiana is averaging a league-high 16,571 fans at their home games. They've already had a total attendance of 82,857 in their first five home games, which is more than their 2023 season total of 81,336, which was the second lowest in the league.
No team in the WNBA averages more fans home or away than the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Clark's Fever has already broken its franchise attendance record set last season—in just five games.
The impact Clark has had on ticket sales is undeniable. The Fever averaged an attendance of 4,066.5 fans last year, a figure which has more than quadrupled in '24.
That impact extends to the road, too. The Los Angeles Sparks hosted the league's largest crowd at a single game this season when 19,103 fans poured into the Crypto.com Arena for a matchup against Clark and the rest of the Fever.
In fact, in all but one of the Fever's road games this year, the home team has had their highest attendance of the season. The only exception was the Las Vegas Aces, as their home opener had a slightly larger turnout than their matchup against Indiana. At road games this year, an average of 15,315 fans have turned up to see the Fever, coming in well ahead of the Sparks (11,104).
The basketball world went into a frenzy when the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team was announced on Saturday, mostly because Caitlin Clark was left off the roster.
While many fans were upset about this "snub," Clark reacted to the news with class by explaining how she wasn't disappointed to hear the news. Instead, she's using this as motivation to help her make the team for the 2028 Olympics.
"Honestly, no disappointment. I think it just gives you something to work for," Clark said, via Indy Star's Chloe Peterson. "It's a dream, hopefully one day I can be there. I think it's just a little more motivation. You remember that and hopefully in four years, when four years comes back around, I can be there."
Here are her full comments:
When it comes to not making the Olympic team, Caitlin Clark has nothing but praise for the 12 who made it: “it’s the toughest team to make.”
Instead of just focusing on herself, Clark shifted the conversation to talk about how excited she is for the 12 women who were named to Team USA.
"I'm excited for the girls that are on the team," Clark said. "I know it's the most competitive team in the world. I know it could've gone either way of me being on the team, me not being on the team. I'm excited for them. I'm going to be rooting them on to win gold."
Clark has helped bring in record crowds to Indiana Fever games this season, and her stardom was reportedly part of the reason she was kept off the Olympic team this year as the team worried how fans would "react to what would likely be limited playing time on a stacked roster."
1. You rarely see Stephen A. Smith left speechless, but that was the case on Monday morning’s episode of First Take thanks to panelist Monica McNutt.
After a discussion on Chennedy Carter’s 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.
“Who talks about the WNBA, who talks about women’s sports more than First Take,” asked Stephen A.
McNutt was not having the revisionist history.
“Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform you could’ve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,” replied McNutt.
This left Smith stunned and all he could muster was a pair of back-to-back “wows.”
A little back-and-forth followed:
McNutt: “You know you’re my guy…”
Smith: “Who does more than us?”
McNutt: “Stephen A., I’m talking to you. Don’t do that. I’m talking to you about the power than you have.”
Smith: “OK, OK. I got it. You’re my girl, but you missed a lot episodes of First Take. You missed a lot.”
McNutt: “Stephen A., three years ago you would not talk about the WNBA at this level. Don’t do that.”
It’s one thing for McNutt to disagree with Stephen A., but after he challenged her, she doubled down and didn’t back down. That was impressive.
Sadly, moderator Molly Qerim cut off the discussion, which could’ve been riveting television of McNutt and Smith continued to argue over First Take’s coverage of the WNBA.
I don’t want to paint the media with one brush, but as someone who covers this stuff, I’d say 99% of sprots media, including First Take, did not cover the WNBA the way they’re covering it now. And even now, they’re not covering the WNBA.
They’re covering Caitlin Clark.
2. I don’t follow the WNBA, so I don’t know what the unwritten rules are or what protocol is for something like this. However, if I’m just comparing it to the NBA game, what I don’t understand about the foul that Chennedy Carter committed against Caitlin Clark is how none of Clark’s 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).
Mavericks/Timberwolves game 5: 6.3 million (6.148m on TNT, 114K on truTV)
Inside the NBA (11:01-11:53P): 2.8m
Panthers/Rangers on ESPN: 2.1m
College Softball World Series on ESPN2:
Oklahoma St/Florida: 783K Stanford/Texas: 697K
— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) May 31, 2024
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 Giants’ ballpark on Sunday when New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the 9th.
Look at all the Yankee fans stand up when Juan Soto made contact.
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 2025–26 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 “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week's topics include the passing of Bill Walton, Ángel Hernández'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, let’s take a look at some of the hardest fouls in NBA history.
