Caitlin Clark was back in New York on Sunday night for the Indiana Fever’s showdown against the New York Liberty at the Barclays Center, and she treated a group of young basketball fans to an awesome moment after they asked her to snap a photo before the game.
Clark was warming up ahead of tip-off on Sunday when she happily obliged a group of Fever fans who wanted to take a photo with her.
In a moment captured by sports reporter Aliyah Funschelle, the group of kids could be seen beaming after Clark walked over and greeted them with some high fives, and they hopped up and gathered around in order to take the photo.
Indiana has gotten off to a slow start to the season, but they picked up a much-needed win on Saturday against the Chicago Sky in order to improve to 2–8. There was some physical play in that game, including a controversial moment between Clark and Sky’s Chennedy Carter, but the 22-year-old didn’t let any lingering frustrations stand in the way of a heartwarming moment between herself and some of her biggest fans.
Across 10 games in the WNBA, Clark is averaging 16.9 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds.
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.
Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, who starred at Iowa and is a key reason for the boom in popularity of women's basketball over the last couple of years, was reportedly left off Team USA's roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
There's an argument to be made that Clark would be at the end of the bench if she did make Team USA this summer, but it's still a curious decision to leave her off the roster given her draw in media.
While Clark has been up-and-down in her first season as a professional, she brings eyeballs to the television and the arena, as exhibited by the sellout crowd of 20,333 in attendance to see Clark and the Fever take on the Washington Mystics on Friday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The sellout crowd was the largest WNBA crowd in 17 years.
Largest WNBA crowd in 17 years—20,333—sees Fever beat Mystics, 85-83.
Caitlin Clark makes 7 threes, scores 30 points, adds 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals.
Clark had her best game of her rookie season in front of that crowd, scoring 30 points on seven made threes, while adding eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Clark joins Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale as notable snubs for the summer Olympics roster. Here's who Team USA will be bringing instead, which is undoubtedly a loaded group.
The Team USA Women's Basketball Olympics roster has been announced, per @ShamsCharania and @joevardon 🇺🇸
A'ja Wilson Breanna Stewart Diana Taurasi Alyssa Thomas Brittney Griner Napheesa Collier Jewell Loyd Kelsey Plum Jackie Young Kahleah Copper Sabrina Ionescu Chelsea Gray pic.twitter.com/222FOOhAAh
On television draw alone, many expected Clark to make the roster. Now that she hasn't, basketball fans across social media are outraged.
Christian Laettner made the Dream Team. Caitlin Clark can’t make the women’s Olympic basketball team? What mostly pays for the Olympics — oh wait — revenue generated from broadcasting partners. As in TV. As in Caitlin is TV GOLD. Opportunity wasted.
Caitlin Clark has been left off the Olympic women’s basketball roster. Women’s basketball hates its fans and doesn’t want to grow their game. That’s the only conclusion you can draw from their treatment of Clark. She would quadruple their viewership by herself. No brainer.
I don’t know enough about USA women’s Olympic basketball to know if Caitlin Clark’s omission is a snub. I do know that, right now, she would be the only reason I would remotely care about USA women’s Olympic basketball. https://t.co/IAP8bulQXg
I really want to hear the decision making behind leaving Caitlin Clark off the USA Basketball roster. Because I can’t fathom an explanation that makes sense.
Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark's offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.
Clark was awarded a foul during Monday's tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.
Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark's flopping antics.
Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn't sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.
Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89–72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they've beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.
