Basketball legends downplay Caitlin Clark's role in WNBA growth

Caitlin Clark has been one of the most influential athletes this century, but former stars from the NBA and WNBA have criticized her early career.

NBA legend Clyde Frazier, a two-time champion with the New York Knicks, claimed that Clark hadn't impressed him as much as she had others in New York's recent game against the Indiana Pacers.

Clark was sat courtside in the Knicks' 132-121 loss to Indiana, and Frazier said: "She doesn't look that formidable. I could stop her."

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Candace Parker also threw some cold water on Caitlin Clark's influence on growing the WNBA to the heights that it is experiencing now. She said, "But I mean I feel like all of us feel a responsibility and a part of the growth that's happening right now."

Clark was a revelation for the WNBA in her rookie season. But her rapid rise to superstardom has not been met with universal praise from everyone, especially some key pundits. But has the 22-year-old been unfairly treated by the media?

As far as WNBA legend Sue Bird is concerned, she most certainly has. The WNBA legend recently told Megan Rapinoe's A Touch More podcast that she found the discussions around Clark to be "insulting."

Bird blamed "trolls" on social media for continually bringing up Clark negatively, creating a circus around the Indiana Fever guard.

Bird pointed the finger at Diana Taurasi for claiming the "reality was coming" for Clark before her rookie season even began.

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The 13-time WNBA All-Star continued her unabashed criticism by claiming, "Once Diana's comments went viral, it led to the Twitter trolls and bots taking over," before adding, "And what started there was this narrative of petty, jealous players hating on Caitlin."

Bird then suggests this maelstrom of media around Clark forced opposing players to "dislike" her, and that some were even "hating on her".

Throughout Clark's rookie season, members of the media were quick to suggest opponents were targeting her physically, something Bird claims wasn't true, saying, "Not at any point did I think anybody was playing dirty against Caitlin."

Despite Bird's opinion that Clark wasn't targeted, her presence as the new face of the WNBA led to extraordinary media coverage, which created, "petty, jealous narratives."

Bird believes media narratives were way off base surrounding Clark, telling Megan Rapinoe, "people saw people blocking Caitlin's shot or picking her up full court, it then became 'Oh, they're targeting her. Oh, they're trying to hurt her.' I cannot stress enough how insulting that is."

There is no doubt opponents attempted to shut down Clark on the court, even Bird agrees with that, but the reasoning wasn't due to anything other than trying to win the game, as Bird says, "people were up in arms about Caitlin getting picked up full court ... it was like, well, you have to. If you don't, she's going to drop 35 on you," calling the decision to do so, "smart defense."

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Clark's role in the promotion of the WNBA cannot be understated. It's no coincidence that viewership of the league is up 142%, as reported by ESPN, in Clark's first year in the comp. This is obviously a great thing for women's basketball, but it seems like it may take some time for the media to get used to the idea of having superstar athletes in women's basketball.