{"id":3964,"date":"2026-07-08T08:06:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2026-07-08T08:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:06:36","slug":"womens-basketball-is-out-to-destroy-superstar-caitlin-clark-and-itself-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3964","title":{"rendered":"Women’s basketball is out to destroy superstar Caitlin Clark \u2014 and itself, too"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

What sports league, handed a generational talent who has played brilliantly and delivered massive commercial dividends, would make this very same player seem unwelcome and an object of scorn?<\/p>\n

Read more Harrowing 911 audio reveals DreamDoll Brii\u2019s shocked witnesses calling for help after influencer, 21, was gunned down<\/a><\/p>\n

The WNBA.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark arrived in the league three seasons ago already a superstar considered one of the greatest college players in the history of the sport, and instantly boosted the league \u2014 otherwise a commercially marginal outfit \u2014 to another level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For her trouble, the Indiana Fever star has been treated like a virus that the league\u2019s antibodies seek to reject.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest controversy erupted after a player with the Phoenix Mercury named Alyssa Thomas pressed her fist to Clark\u2019s neck when the Fever guard was prone on the court.<\/p>\n

The officials missed the foul in real time, but the league later deemed it a flagrant foul and suspended Thomas for one game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The episode was shocking given Clark\u2019s importance to women\u2019s basketball \u2014 a little like Tom Brady getting clotheslined, or Shohei Ohtani getting hit by a pitch, and the refs or umps not noticing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, ABC News ran a sympathetic segment about Thomas, who is black, getting death threats after the incident.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, sports influencer Emmanuel Acho claimed the incident showed that Clark is more trouble than she\u2019s worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a little like saying in the 1940s or 1950s that Major League Baseball didn\u2019t need Ted Williams.<\/p>\n

Now of course, Clark hasn\u2019t proved herself one of the greatest offensive forces in her league\u2019s history, the way Teddy Ballgame did.<\/p>\n

She has a chance, though, if she stays healthy \u2014 all the more reason for the WNBA to keep her from getting singled out for hard fouls on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Players envious of Clark should realize that the only reason a segment of fans care about the league is that she is playing in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more UK mom thrown out of supermarket over what she wore during heat wave: \u2018Someone can untie your top\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A player who is very good, and also famous and charismatic, is a priceless commodity for any league \u2014 and the entire WNBA should be grateful for what it has in Clark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They used to say of the New York Yankees that Yankees are born, not made.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, the WNBA could have had a limitless marketing budget and would have been unable manufacture the Caitlin Clark phenomenon.<\/p>\n

It is organic and not replicable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clark fills arenas at home and away, so much so that teams sometimes temporarily move to larger NBA arenas to accommodate the crowds.<\/p>\n

She drives huge spikes in TV ratings.<\/p>\n

Her jersey is the league\u2019s best-seller.<\/p>\n

By one estimate, she accounts for more than a quarter of the league\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n

In terms of sheer economic value, Caitlin Clark is the Elon Musk of the WNBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The root of her appeal is that she\u2019s truly extraordinary on the court, a top scorer and exceptional playmaker.<\/p>\n

This year, she\u2019s been averaging roughly 21 points and 8 assists per game.<\/p>\n

She holds the record for most\u00a0assists in a game, and most assists in a season, and reached 500 career assists at the fastest pace in WNBA history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her total offensive production per game \u2014 points plus assists \u2014 is tops in the league this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And she should be just getting started.<\/p>\n

But her WNBA tenure has been marked by controversies with an identity-politics edge, since it\u2019s not hard to imagine that the predominantly black league with a disproportionate number of openly lesbian players looks askance at the white, straight player who gets outsized attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Clark\u2019s teammate Sophie Cunningham said after the latest incident that Clark is clearly being targeted.<\/p>\n

The league should make it clear that \u2014 as a sport and entertainment business \u2014 it wants no part of such an agenda, and that it highly values its most valuable player. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s agent has said, correctly, that there\u2019s no way the WNBA can pay Clark what she\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n

But the league can<\/em> provide an environment for her to reach her full potential \u2014 the very least it can do for Clark, the sport and their fans.<\/p>\n

Read more Khris Middleton, ex-Nets star in middle of wild six-team NBA trade<\/a><\/p>\n

X: @RichLowry<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Clark is a generational talent in women’s professional basketball \u2014 but the WNBA has treated the Indiana Fever star like a virus that the league\u2019s antibodies seek to reject.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-rich-lowry"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen's basketball is out to destroy superstar Caitlin Clark \u2014 and itself, too - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women's basketball is out to destroy superstar Caitlin Clark \u2014 and itself, too - 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