![Angel Reese Caitlin Clark]()
Man, Caitlin Clark just keeps catching strays...mostly from other women.
For years, we’ve heard about how unfair it was that WNBA players aren’t paid the same as NBA players, that they don’t get the same benefits, that they have to fly commercial instead of getting charter flights to their games…
Well former University of Iowa star and current rookie for the Indiana Fever Caitlin Clark has managed to bring a lot of change to the league in the month or so since she was drafted with the #1 lottery pick.
After complaints about having to fly commercial, the league finally began allowing teams to charter private flights to away games. And Clark has brought in an insane amount of sponsorship dollars to the league – not just her own, but the increase in viewership that she draws has raised the market for all players.
Sounds like a good thing, right?
Well for some reason it seems that the same people who were complaining about how unfair it was for WNBA players are now hell-bent on tearing down Caitlin Clark at every turn, despite all that she’s done for the league already.
Former ESPNer
Jemele Hill called Clark’s success “problematic” because of her race and sexuality, and
The View co-host Sunny Hostin claimed that Clark is only popular because of "pretty privilege" and "white privilege."
And yesterday, Caitlin's former college rival Angel Reese took a seemingly unprovoked shot at Clark's popularity.
Reese and Clark were widely regarded as two of the best players in women's college basketball for the past two years. Reese led her LSU Tigers to a national championship in 2023, knocking off Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship game. And this year, the Hawkeyes got their revenge by knocking off LSU in the Elite Eight before eventually falling to South Carolina in the national championship.
The two were bitter rivals on the court, but off the court seemed to be cordial and have a mutual admiration for each other. Clark praised Reese many times in the media, and Reese always seemed to have kind words to say about Clark too.
But is that out the window now?
Reese was selected by the Chicago Sky as the 7th pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. And after the Sky knocked off the New York Liberty last night, Reese took to Twitter to celebrate the win and take what seems like a shot at Caitlin Clark:
https://twitter.com/dhookstead/status/1793958842079781270
Some have suggested that the tweet was actually a shot at Charles Barkley and Clark was simply caught in the crosshairs, after the NBA legend suggested that WNBA players need to stop tearing down Caitlin Clark and instead thank her for all she's done for the league:
https://twitter.com/big_business_/status/1793435954570490031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1793435954570490031%7Ctwgr%5Ec9edd7e1db56099c497ab2f398e3b6803491e2a3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F2024%2F05%2F23%2Fyou-women-out-there-yall-petty-charles-barkley-rips-wnba-players-fans-who-hate-on-caitlin-clark%2F
Either way, Reese must have realized that the tweet was a bad look, because it was deleted not long after it was posted.
The WNBA and its players are clearly struggling with how to handle the attention that comes from having a superstar like Clark in the league...but taking shots at her and trying to tear down her popularity seems pretty counterproductive to me.
