Colin Cowherd addressing Caitlin Clark WNBA All-Star voting Photo credit: FS1

Colin Cowherd has opined that WNBA players don’t like or respect Caitlin Clark, and now he has the numbers to prove it.

Last month, Cowherd urged WNBA players to “be nice” to Clark and it doesn’t seem like they’re listening. The WNBA’s All-Star voting results were announced Tuesday, showing Clark’s peers don’t feel the same way about her as the fans or media do. Clark predictably finished first among guards in fan voting and a respectable third in media voting. But WNBA players appeared to send a message by surprisingly voting her just ninth.

Yes, WNBA players decided there were eight guards more deserving of an All-Star nod than Caitlin Clark this season and Cowherd was among the many who didn’t like the apparent disrespect.


“The pettiness has no bounds,” Cowherd ranted on his Tuesday FS1 and Fox Sports Radio show. “For years, the WNBA players were pointing fingers. They were saying, ‘People are sexist, the media is sexist, we’re not being promoted, we’re underappreciated.’ And then they get the Golden Goose and they don’t like what it looks like. Iowa girl, Indiana girl. I’ve said this for years, when the wave hits, ride it. You don’t know what it looks like, don’t fight it.”

“There’s obviously a racial component here,” Cowherd claimed. “The WNBA players, they just don’t like what the wave looks like. They wanted to fly private. They wanted to be more popular. They wanted a better deal in the CBA – which they’ll get. They wanted sold-out arenas. They got it. They just don’t necessarily think it should be this. But again, you can’t fight it. You just never know what success looks like.”

The alleged racial component seems like an easy place to point the finger of suspicion, except for the fact that Angel Reese finished 12th in player voting.

There are not eight guards who are better than Caitlin Clark in the WNBA. But as far as this season goes, she has played in just nine games. And in her three games leading up to the voting announcement, Clark shot 13-47 from the field, including just 1-23 from beyond the three-point line.

Again, it would be egregious to think Clark shouldn’t be at the WNBA’s All-Star Game, but in terms of merit, there are reasons to vote for other guards. So, is the ninth-place finish among Clark’s peers racial? Is it jealousy? Is it hatred? Or is it another example of a professional league wanting a young player to earn their place.

Like Clark, LeBron James was and deserved to be an All-Star in his second NBA season more than two decades ago. But would anyone have been surprised if other players opted to vote for veterans over a 20-year-old who outsiders were already crowning as the league’s king?

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com