Caitlin Clark-mania will take over Indiana a day sooner than fans of the WNBA rookie expected.
The Indiana Fever’s first home preseason game of the 2024 season—Clark’s debut in front of Indiana fans in the WNBA—originally scheduled for Friday, May 10 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, has been moved up to Thursday due to a conflict with the Indiana Pacers, who will be hosting Game 3 of the Eastern conference semifinals against the New York Knicks that night.
“Due to the Pacers home playoff schedule for the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Fever preseason game originally scheduled for Friday, May 10, has been moved to Thursday, May 9, 7 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Tickets for Friday’s game will be valid for Thursday’s rescheduled date. The game will also be shown on the WNBA app,” the team said in a statement posted onto its account on X, formerly Twitter.
The Pacers’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as the Knicks’ victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, led to the scheduling conflict at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the shared home of the Pacers and the Fever.
Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, is slated to make her professional basketball debut on Friday night against the Dallas Wings at 8 p.m. ET. The West Des Moines, Ia. native’s regular season debut is scheduled for May 14 against the Connecticut Sun at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Mainstream men’s sports punditry has discovered the WNBA, and I wish it hadn’t.
Popular programs like First Take and The Pat McAfee Show are typically preoccupied with the goings on in the NFL and NBA but have recently dedicated increased airtime to women’s basketball. This type of universal coverage, and the exposure it generates, is what women’s sports supporters and insiders have hoped for for decades. But now, it’s here, and it feels less like validation, and more like an affliction.
The heightened interest in women’s basketball centers around the cultural phenomenon of Catilin Clark. Her collegiate career at Iowa is nothing short of groundbreaking, and her generational talent rightfully earned her a boatload of loyal fans. Clark’s transition to the WNBA has been watched breathlessly, bringing an unprecedented level of attention to the league, buoying viewership, ticket sales and investment. With the Clark hype has come a flood of media scrutiny typically reserved for men’s sports leagues. The devolving discourse—which reached a fever pitch this week after the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter committed a Flagrant 1 foul on Clark last Saturday—has exposed how unequipped a mainstream sports media dominated by men is for this moment.
"Who talks about the WNBA, who talks about women, who talks about women's sports more than First Take?" Stephen A. Smith asked Monica McNutt at the end of a 40-minute segment addressing the Carter foul on Clark on Monday’s show. "Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,” McNutt responded, leaving Smith incredulous.
Directing that question at McNutt, an accomplished former collegiate basketball player herself and established broadcaster, is laughable. Smith’s stance that First Take bestowed McNutt, and the WNBA, with a platform they ought to be grateful for echoes the prevailing sentiment that the league’s players owe Clark a debt of gratitude. It’s patriarchal and condescending and fails to acknowledge the work of generations that has poured into the WNBA. McNutt later expanded on the exchange, saying, "I think what I was frustrated by in our conversation earlier is that we can hold more than one truth, y'all. The idea of some players being jealous, yes, that probably exists. But I think since Caitlin's made her debut, there's been a large and loud push that it's been Caitlin vs. the W."
The swirling commentary about Clark’s unfair treatment at the hands of WNBA veterans does the 22-year-old rookie a disservice too, evidenced by Pat McAfee’s bizarre defense (?) of the Fever star on Monday’s episode of his show. "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 — there's one white b---- for the Indiana team who is a superstar," McAfee said, in an attempt to praise Clark. He later apologized for his remarks.
First, let’s get the obvious point out of the way: It’s best not to refer to a professional athlete who one purports to revere in such derogatory terms. Second, the impulse to protect Clark is paternalistic and undermines her prowess as a physical and unrelenting competitor. Clark isn’t a meek person in need of shielding, nor is she a shrinking violet, leading the league in technical fouls (three). The racial overtones are hard to ignore too. Sky rookie Angel Reese—who has 3.3 million Instagram followers and can also be credited with the recent rise in popularity of women’s basketball—was pulled down by the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas, who was ejected from the May 25 game due to the Flagrant 2 foul. There hasn’t been wall-to-wall coverage of that incident, nor has it inspired the same media firestorm that Carter’s hip check on Clark did.
The inclination to highlight the foul(s) on Clark alone exhibits an unfamiliarity with the WNBA. It’s a physical league, and things get chippy, just like in any other professional sport. Unlike other leagues, however, the WNBA boasts very few roster spots, meaning on any given night the most elite basketball players in the world are on the floor battling it out in highly competitive matchups. While “not appropriate,” as Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon categorized Carter’s foul on Clark, it is also not remarkable, nor is it a new occurrence.
Putting a spotlight on something the way many sports media personnel have with the WNBA, isn’t the same as illuminating it. What is coverage without curiosity? What is narrative without knowledge? What is an argument without good faith? All press is not in fact good press when, to McNutt’s point, Napheesa Collier’s standout season, Arike Ogunbowale’s 40-point game and A’ja Wilson’s MVP campaign are failing to break through. It’s starting to feel like men’s sports commentators’ newfound interest, or at least newly articulated interest, in women’s basketball, is being wielded as a cudgel, punishing any player, reporter or fan who isn’t just grateful to be here.
The WNBA is a 28-year-old league with a rich history despite its young age. It has a lore that includes rivalries, dynasties, beefs and ballers. It has a culture—from its players to its fans—that is uniquely women-led, queer and Black. The W is unlike any other sports league in the U.S., and it’s better for its singularity. The current commentary is not only shortchanging the players—rookies and vets alike—but it is also willfully ignorant about the WNBA’s mores, taking a vibrant league and coating it with dull commentary. The WNBA deserves better than what the current landscape of talking heads has to offer.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of a hard off-ball foul late in the third quarter of Saturday’s matchup against the Chicago Sky.
On a Fever inbounding play, the Sky’s Chennedy Carter bumped Clark to the floor and was assessed a common away-from-play foul, not a flagrant foul.
Chennedy Carter fouls Caitlin Clark on the inbound. Away-from-play foul called. pic.twitter.com/LodLF5oKMF
Clark appeared shaken up after the play, and when the quarter ended, she appealed to the refs for a harsher punishment for Carter. In an interview after the third quarter, Clark called Carter’s foul “not a basketball play.”
In the Fever’s loss to the Seattle Storm on Thursday, Clark had complained about the level of physicality in the league.
What is wrong with all of these WNBA players. They’ve turned into Draymond Green level maniacs out here. You could make a compilation at this point and it’s only ten games into Caitlin Clark’s career pic.twitter.com/QTzJ5DeMTW
Despite Carter's foul, the Fever clinched its first home win of the season, beating the Sky 71–70. Clark finished with 11.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists, shooting 4-of-11 from the field and 2-of-9 from three.
In a postgame press conference, Carter refused to comment on her altercation with Clark.
"Individuals who have never covered the WNBA before, don’t have the history to help provide context, don’t know the storylines or the players, but have large platforms and the loudest voices, are helping to fan the flames."
— Lyndsey D'Arcangelo 🏀 (@darcangel21) June 3, 2024
And since I'm on a soapbox, lemme just add that "talking" about a sport does not equal "covering" a sport. These ppl are TALKING about the WNBA. But they aint covering it. I haven't seen a single one of these high profile media personalities in the press conferences (1/2)
Actually, I’m lucky enough to have my own column, so I can tell you how much I hate these tweets and I will tell you how much I hate them.
First, and most important, I’m not trying to single out the writers of tweets. I’m not familiar with either of their work, but I’ve seen this take a lot over the past few weeks and these particular tweets were retweeted into my feed Monday and pushed me to write about it.
The theory that you have to be a long-time WNBA follower/watcher in order to voice an opinion about general issues regarding the league and the game is complete nonsense.
You don’t have to watch every WNBA game to know this is a cheap shot.
Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows this is a dirty play.
I agree that someone who doesn’t follow the WNBA shouldn’t be breaking down which team has the best defense or which coaches are great at X’s and O’s strategy. But the idea that unless you are a hardcore WNBA watcher you should shut up about anything related to the league goes against everything that is sports.
People are allowed to talk about a sport without covering that sport. People who have large platforms are allowed to weigh in on any sports topic they want if they think the general audience will respond, watch, or click.
What so many people seem to be forgetting about what’s going on with the WNBA right now is that sports are supposed to be fun. Sports are supposed to be entertaining. Sports are a watercooler topic. A huge part of sports fandom is arguing, offering opinions and debating. The WNBA has that right now because of Caitlin Clark.
Here's the other thing that’s going on here. Sports are also a business. It’s a business for companies and individuals who rely on page views, engagement, clicks, subscriptions, video views, etc. If the people in those businesses see that Clark drives those things (and she does), then they will give you as much Clark content as possible regardless of what their WNBA coverage has been in the past. This is just Business 101.
So if there’s a dirty play in any sport, or if a player gets a historic contract in any sport, or if a player sets ratings records in any sport, it’s going to get talked about by plenty of people who don’t follow the sport.
The other issue here is Clark has crossed over into the mainstream. She gets covered on the Today show, network evening news, People magazine, TMZ, etc. She is not just a sports figure at this point. She is also a pop-culture figure.
Whether you like it or not, more people are watching the WNBA and attending the WNBA because of Clark. That can’t be argued. And a lot of those people just care about Clark and not the WNBA. So people with small platforms, big platforms and no platforms are going to opine on any and everything related to Clark. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
2. In Monday’s Traina Thoughts, we told you about Monica McNutt pushing back against Stephen A. Smith on First Take about his coverage of the WNBA. Smith wanted credit for talking about the WNBA on the show and McNutt said, “Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform you could’ve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to."
Here’s the reality though. You know why Smith has covered the WNBA? And do you know why ESPN covers the WNBA? Because the network airs WNBA games. If you think ESPN would spend as much time covering the WNBA if they didn’t have television rights, I have three words for you: National. Hockey. League. ESPN gave the NHL very little coverage when it didn’t air games.
3. Good news for Good Morning Football fans. Kyle Brandt revealed Monday that he will remain with the show when it moves from New York City to Los Angeles later this summer. Brandt will be on the air five days a week. Jamie Erdahl has already announced that she’s making the move to California.
4. Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, who appeared in 75 games for the San Diego last season, was suspended for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for betting on the sport.
Marcaho definitely seems like he enjoys placing a wager.
He was found to have placed 387 baseball bets from Oct. 16, 2022 to Nov. 1, 2023, totaling more than $150,000.
The problem is that 231 of those wagers included MLB games. The league says 25 of those bets included wagers on Pittsburgh Pirates games while he was on the team’s major league roster.
Here is MLB's account of the baseball betting by Tucupita Marcano that caused him to be banned from baseball "permanently."
231 bets on baseball Baseball bets totaling $87,319 25 bets on the Pirates while he was a Pirates player pic.twitter.com/WTEAslhqel
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 I included Scott Van Pelt’s rant about going to the beach today, we should remember when happened when Larry David went to the beach.
