How the WNBA messed up Caitlin Clark’s rookie year

Caitlin Clark is one of the most polarizing athletes on the planet, and the WNBA knows they need to come up with a playbook to handle the unprecedented attention she brings to the table. They may not have realized how much of a transcendent person was about to enter the league in 2024, but they made several key mistakes in Clark-related areas.

Part of what makes Caitlin Clark a special talent is her willingness to do anything and everything it takes to win. While that burning desire is something that has the potential to be legendary, it caused problems for Clark and the Indiana Fever when she couldn’t harness her emotions.

Caitlin Clark received six technical fouls during the 2024 WNBA regular season, which was one shy of triggering an automatic one-game suspension. Former Fever coach Christie Sides told the New York Post after a September game, “There’s a reaction to all of our actions and we have to make sure we don’t put ourselves in a worse spot with those kinds of moments.” Sides was right about her player, but the WNBA also needs to learn a lesson.

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Clark was deserving of some of those technical fouls for berating officials too loudly for too long, but she also received questionable ones as well. Marca noted that she got a technical for slapping the stanchion under the basket after a bad play, where she was frustrated about how the play unfolded.

Clark has been told that a couple of the more questionable technical fouls were given because she was acting “disrespectfully to the game of basketball,” according to Athlon Sports. The fact of the matter is that no one benefits from Clark missing games; not the Fever, not the WNBA, and not her. The league needs to be more judicious about how its referees levy discipline towards her.

It didn’t take long for WNBA players to try and get under the Indiana star’s skin. In a June 2024 game, Chennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky knocked Clark down on an inbounds play. This drew the ire of many at the time, sparking a heated conversation.

Yahoo Sports’ Cassandra Negley wrote, “…that hit from Carter, is borderline and shouldn’t be let go without repercussion. And while on paper that meant merely one more free throw and the ball for the Fever, in reality, a stronger message should have been sent that this type of play won’t be tolerated.”

Getting into players’ heads with physicality is a tactic used in all sports for men and women. As long as the contact happens within the confines of the rules, players shouldn’t be punished. However, when a player goes over the line, as many feel Carter did, the WNBA needs to step in and legislate that accordingly. This holds true in every scenario, not just for plays involving Clark.

Everyone doesn’t have to like everyone else, but WNBA players seemed particularly jealous of Clark’s persona and profile. NBA analyst Charles Barkley told The Bill Simmons Podcast, “Y’all petty girls. I expect men to be petty, because we’re the most insecure group in the world. Y’all should be thanking that girl for getting y’all private charters, all the money and visibility she brings into the WNBA.” It’s still a competitive sport, but the WNBA probably would’ve liked a little more cordiality towards Clark.

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There also seemed to be a vocal subset of Caitlin Clark supporters who were unafraid to make racist comments to her opponents. Former Connecticut Sun player Alyssa Thomas told CNN, “I think in my 11-year career I’ve never experienced the racial comments from the Indiana Fever fan base.”

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert found herself in hot water in September after not denouncing the behavior of these fans swiftly and demonstrably. After being asked about these incidents by CNBC, she responded, “There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one Black. And so we have that moment with these two (Clark and Angel Reese).”

WNBA stars came out immediately to question Engelbert’s response to the question, and why she didn’t condemn this behavior. Ultimately, the commissioner backtracked and clarified her stance, but it was an embarrassing moment for a league trying to deal with everything that came with Caitlin Clark’s popularity.

The WNBA needed to get ahead of the idea that it was fine with the attention the league was getting, regardless of whether it had racial undertones or not. It didn’t do a very good job of that in Caitlin Clark’s rookie year, and she became somewhat of a figurehead to stand behind for people who wanted to say racist things.

The league essentially revolves around one player right now, so Caitlin Clark has all the leverage. If she feels like the WNBA isn’t the best place for her to grow and maximize her earning potential, she might have other options.

Sports columnist Jason Whitlock said to the Daily Mail, “Half the WNBA right now is overseas, playing in some foreign league because they don’t make enough money during the WNBA season. They’re already playing in rival leagues, why not start a rival league? You can have a rival league that operates during the summer or you can have a rival league that starts now. Right here in America.”

The WNBA cannot afford to lose its preeminent generational star, so they’ll need to be much sharper with their operational decisions involving Clark as her career unfolds.

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