For even the most casual of sports fans, the rise and stardom of rookie Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been something to behold.
Women’s basketball at both the college level, and the WNBA had been on a steady rise already. Women’s basketball players were becoming more marketable and more notable, several have their own signature shoe with All Star A’ja Wilson being added to the list recently. She joined Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, as well as the annointed Clark whose line has yet to be announced.
The 1984 NBA didn’t need Michael Jordan either. By no means am I saying Clark is equal to Jordan. MJs impact on the game of basketball is beyond iconic, so that would be unfair. She very may well could reach that level of player. But the NBA in 1984 had great marketing, iconic stars like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson already winning championships, and a popular but still regional sport. Jordan’s ascension as a marketable agent for the league turned the NBA into a global brand.
The NBA was doing fine, and then Jordan hit the league like a lightning bolt. With Jordan in the NBA finals, the viewership doubled. Nike went from an afterthought of a shoe company, to one of the most dominant global brands thanks to the Air Jordan brand, and as a kid I actually bought and ate Wheaties! Think about how awful Wheaties are as a cereal, and then think about how powerful Jordans marketability is to make anyone want to eat that abomination. He also promoted Gatorade, McDonalds, Hanes… there wasn’t a brand out there which wasn’t made better and more interesting by the presence of Michael Jordan.
Now I want to reiterate that I’m not projecting that Caitlin Clark is going to be the WNBA version of Jordan. She could be. But her popularity is undeniable. Clark has helped bring millions of new fans into the WNBA. Viewership and in person attendance for games is booming… for Clark’s 11th place Indiana Fever team. The rest of the league has seen a boost from Clark’s popularity, but the new interest has largely been directed towards Clark.
And the discourse around her entry to the league has left a lot to be desired. Especially for those who were already covering the sport. The entry of professional loudmouth’s like Stephen A. Smith or Colin Cowherd or Pat McAffee into the WNBA commentariat has been bumpy, to say the least.
In particular, when Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter bodychecked Clark to the ground after a regular round of trash talk.
You see normal people could have watched the interchange between Clark and Carter and shrugged. They had a back and forth, Carter bumped Clark and Clark hit the deck. Most players know a flop, or an embellishment of a foul, when they see one. And Clark sold it. But she’s been hit harder on box outs than that, and didn’t fall over.
But this new breed of WNBA commentators jumped all over to protect Clark. Here’s the reality… she doesn’t need protecting.
Clark is tough. Women, in particularly WNBA players, are tough. And if you haven’t been following the league the only thing you should be doing is elevating the voices of people who have been following the game.
It was a thing of beauty to watch Monica McNutt, a former Georgetown basketball player and women’s basketball broadcaster since 2019, dress down Smith during one of his usual ill-tempered rants. She was right to call him out and correct him, because there are way too many newbies to the commenting game who saw the foul on Clark and thought it was something more than just a foul. Meanwhile Angel Reese, another hot shot rookie, was flipped on her back by Alyssa Thomas and all those same commentators weren’t so quick to judge the league.
Thomas’ foul on Reese was much more flagrant and potentially harmful than Carter’s hip check on Clark. But there wasn’t a collection of voices from ESPN, or even major newspaper editorial boards calling for assault charges to be levied against anyone.
And there’s the problem. Sports talk is dominated by male voices, and until a few months ago those voices weren’t talking about the WNBA. They were talking about NFL mini-camps and the NBA playoffs. They were talking about baseball or hockey playoffs. They were experts on Name, Image and Likeness changes… and suddenly after never watching a WNBA basketball game they were turning into the women’s Final Four and assuming that Caitlin Clark was about to take the league by storm. But the Storm play in Seattle and are led by Jewell Lloyd,
The only lesson here is that the sports media apparatus wasn’t fully prepared for a pivot to the WNBA in this news cycle. The wrong voices were leading the discussion.
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t watched a lot of the WNBA. So when it comes to how things are going in the league I’m going to step back and listen to the people who have followed it.
Here’s what I do know however, Clark is now one of the many many great players in the WNBA. Players who have established their dominance and won championships. Clark has a long ways to go before she can be considered the bearer of the crown for the league in terms of winning and championships. She is, however, the one leading the charge towards increasing the popularity of the sport.