Stephen A. Smith claims WNBA players resenting Caitlin Clark is ‘justified’

Stephen A. Smith believes WNBA payers are justified in resenting Caitlin Clark, while Chiney Ogwumike argues his perceived resentment is a misrepresentation of the league.

Clark’s rookie season came to a close Wednesday night, when the Connecticut Sun eliminated the Indiana Fever from the WNBA playoffs. It marked the end of a historic season for Clark, filled with record-setting performances while helping the league reach new heights in popularity. But it was also a polarizing season, with Clark seeing her name get dragged into culture wars while players were accused of resenting her instant icon status.

Although that perceived resentment has been debated and even debunked, Thursday morning on ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith said WNBA players were justified in resenting Clark.

“What has happened is, in America, you have somebody that’s come along, who happens to be white and brought a level of attention and a lure to the sport it has not received before,” Smith said. “And what we were seeing from an abundance of folks appeared to be resentment. What some of y’all missed is somebody like me saying that resentment was justified. Because as is historically the case, a lot of times there are Black folks that do a lot of great, great things. And the level of recognition that should come our way, doesn’t come our way…I feel there were people in the WNBA that felt that way, I just didn’t think it was wrong.”

Surely, no one believes what the WNBA has been missing is for someone like Smith to come along and claim players are justified in resenting Clark. Analysts like Chiney Ogwumike, who have been covering the WNBA in recent years and decades have no issue calling out wrongs, they just don’t agree that Clark has been treated unfairly by her peers.

“There are preconceived notions on how the WNBA is that people had to be educated to,” Ogwumike told Smith. “People perceived the WNBA to be a joke, but now we’re seeing it’s now a juggernaut in the sense that ‘women should compete like this.’ On this very stage, you said, ‘protect the golden goose.’ But that’s not how athletes inherently are. We try to characterize one or two or three foul plays on all players and that to me is out of pocket, that is out of line. Those preconceived notions on how women should compete are the issues.”

The racial aspect to Clark’s popularity, paired with first time fans being unaware of the WNBA’s physicality has helped drive these false narratives about the league. But hard fouls and even cheap shots are not new in sports, particularly for a player who was labeled a WNBA icon before earning it in the league. There’s no question Clark has already furthered the WNBA after just one season, but that doesn’t mean her opponents should check their own pride and ego before competing.

[First Take]