The flagrant foul Chicago Sky G Chennedy Carter delivered to Indiana Fever G Caitlin Clark on Saturday “gave fuel to the growing discourse around Clark and the WNBA,” as the play “prompted the collision of too many atoms that were already active,” according to Cassandra Negley of YAHOO SPORTS. Clark is “almost undeniably” the most well- known name to enter the league, meaning mаnу people are watching the WNBA for the first time. That also results in “media personalities talking about it for the first time, and their takes aren’t always rooted in historical knowledge.” Meanwhile, players are “faced with media coverage and criticism they’ve rarely received at this level.” Carter’s foul “was cheap, even within the accepted reality of physical W basketball.” However, Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon cut off postgame questions for Carter “that offered the player an opportunity to explain the incident in her own words.” At the same time, Sky F Angel Reese declined to speak with the media. In the “absence of context from the players themselves, the controversy spread further.” It “opened up room for people, some of whom have never watched women’s basketball but saw a clip on their social-media timeline, to fill in their own assumptions and misguided claims about intent.” Negley: “Cheap shot aside, though, the league could use the beef. It used to market itself as the ‘144,’ a nod to the number of roster spots. It now wants to lean into rivalries and marketing superstars, because that’s how sports work” (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/3).
ANY PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY? In Chicago, Paul Sullivan wrote Carter’s foul against Clark was a “defining moment for the WNBA,” which now has a “window of opportunity to get massive publicity” with the NBA playoffs in an intermission before the NBA Finals begin Thursday. This kind of controversy can “help fuel the league’s growth, as any publicity is good publicity.” The foul became a “trending topic on social media, was discussed during a ‘Good Morning America’ segment on Sunday and helped make the Sky-Fever into a true rivalry.” Sullivan wrote jealousy from Clark’s fellow WNBA players “for lifting the league into another stratosphere with her fame and talent level is obvious” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/3).
THE ATHLETIC’s Jon Greenberg writes it is “natural that opposing players are tired of hearing pundits (professional and otherwise) tell them they should be thankful for Clark, a rookie who is not on their team.” It is “inarguable” that Clark and Reese have “brought more attention to a league that has struggled gain a foothold in a crowded national sporting conversation.” The merits of that attention have “come with discussions about race.” When it comes to marketability, the league itself has “often been the issue, not the quality of the players.” There is “no arguing” that the WNBA has been “gifted a blessing with the likes of Clark and Reese and with a new spotlight on how competitive this league really is,” and “everyone will have to adapt to the changing times.” Players will “have to deal with the scrutiny.” Reporters, TV hosts and the rest of media will “have to learn the league” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/4).
SIGNS OF GROWTH: In S.F., Scott Ostler wrote the reaction to the foul “not only showed how much new attention is being focused on the league this season,” it was also a “marker of the advancement of women’s sports in general.” Ostler: “People are watching! People care! The league that has been fighting for recognition for decades seems to be picking up some steam, part of a general rise in women’s sports.” Ostler asked: “When was the last time all the folks around the proverbial office water cooler, or at the barber shop and the beauty salon, were heatedly debating an incident in a regular-season game in a woman’s sport?” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/3). YAHOO SPORTS’ Dan Wetzel wrote in a “pure business sense,” WNBA players “should love Caitlin Clark for the sponsorship money, fan attention and media coverage she is bringing to a league that failed to truly break through in over a quarter century of existence.” Wetzel: “What Clark brings, undoubtedly, is attention. If this happens a year ago, with another player, then only the diehard fans even know. Ог саге” (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/3).
EDITORIAL BOARD SPEAKS UP: A CHICAGO TRIBUNE editorial stated the foul committed by Carter was “egregious” and it “would have been seen as an assault” outside of the sports realm. Clark has “done nothing to deserve this other than bringing attention to her sport and playing it superbly well. Clark’s shoulder “rests more pressure than most if not all other players in the league are feeling.” She has to “compete on her own merits, but basketball has rules and if the WNBA “chews her up and spits her out because it is too afraid of being called racist to protect her from racially tinged animosity, or indeed from fouls such as the one Carter committed, it will have done a huge disservice to its own game” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/3).PART OF A MUCH DEEPER CONVERSATION: THE ATHLETIC’s Jim Trotter wrote the “pearl-clutching that has followed” the Clark-Carter incident is as “exhausting as it is nauseating.” Trotter rhetorically asked if the Chicago Tribune wrote an editorial when Reese earlier this season was slammed to the court by Sun F Alyssa Thomas and Thomas was thus ejected. Trotter: “Why not? But a hip check deserves commentary and is likened to a crime in a city that has had more than enough problems with street violence? Make it make sense.” The focus on Clark has “always been about more than basketball” and has passed that “mile marker a long time ago.” Clark has become a “proxy in discussions/arguments about race, culture, privilege and entitlement” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/3). In D.C., Candace Buckner writes the foul is “being magnified as incriminating evidence that brutish Black women are jealous of the league’s supposed savior, and therefore would rather manhandle her than show appreciation.” Every layer peeled from the Carter-Clark episode “reveals not only the shallowness of sports commentators when they’re forced to discuss women’s sports… but also the divisiveness so quickly seized upon in our society.” Buckner: “Because Clark is the linchpin drawing sellout crowds and groundbreaking ratings – the marketable star with the agreeable skin color and sexuality – her plight carries a sympathetic bent with her most loyal audience” (WASHINGTON POST, 6/4).