Caitlin Clark is changing everything about WNBA coverage, for better or for worse

It’s impossible to have proper discourse about athletes in general on social media, as everything is made into arbitrary arguments. And if they’re not, a straw man lurks in the comments. The point gets lost, and you regret ever opening the app.

Sports are not fair. They never have been, and they never will be. You could have a double-double machine who can handle the ball, a knockdown shooter, another big who can protect the rim and grab boards surrounded by two other scorers, and still get the floor wiped with you in the finals because the other team has the better version of your team at every position.

That was the case last year in the WNBA Finals and is true in every sport. There is always somebody better. There will always be somebody “next” that any league wants to promote. This year, it comes in the form of the No. 1 overall pick.

Caitlin Clark lit the collegiate world on fire. She averaged over 31 points per game, nearly nine assists, and seven rebounds, all while shooting over 37 percent from three this past season at the University of Iowa. Clark is far from a one-year wonder.

She’s the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball history. Clark broke teammate Kelsey Mitchell’s record as well as Kelsey Plum’s all-time points record. Those three are in the top four for most points in a career. They all played 139 games. Mitchell scored 3,402 points. Plum finished with 3,527 points. Clark finished with 3,951 points and did so by making 157 more field goals than Plum and 205 more three-point field goals.

Clark is also 6’ tall, whereas Mitchell and Plum are 5’8. So Clark is a scorer we haven’t seen shoot the volume of threes she does at a unique height.

The numbers
The WNBA’s intentions heading into the season were clear. They were going to shove Clark and the Indiana Fever down our throats in an effort to spike ratings while the game grows on a larger scale. Who better to feature than a player with a skill set we’ve never seen professionally? More on that later.

The Fever will play 36 of their 40 games on national television, and this is not a Caitlin Clark issue. This is a WNBA issue. The season is still in its early stages, and it feels like they’ve already gone overboard with the attention given to the team picking first in the 2024 draft:

It’s really the WNBA (the league, not the players) that need to take it easy on the Fever. This is insane scheduling.

They’ve played nine games with one or no days of rest. They’ve played ONE game with more than two days of rest, and that was the opener. pic.twitter.com/MK26jDzYIz

— Steven Ruiz (@theStevenRuiz) June 4, 2024

June 2 is a prime example of how the WNBA fumbled the schedule. The Fever had just beaten the Chicago Sky by one the day before. Their reward? That loaded team I mentioned above with a two-day rest on the road. The New York Liberty was always going to destroy the Fever in that scheduling spot, and they did, winning 104-68.

An hour earlier, one of the most exciting teams in the league had a home game against a squad that can score with anybody, thanks to Arike Ogunbowale. The Dallas Wings couldn’t outlast the Minnesota Lynx—not many teams can— thanks to Kayla McBride and Napheesa Collier taking over and doing what they’ve done every game. The result? An 87-76 win by Minnesota, and a much more exciting game than the Liberty demolishing the Fever.

Players around the league have been criticized for their perceived jealousy of Clark and the spotlight she’s received. This is a business. The WNBA chose to ride the wave of the No. 1 overall pick. After the numbers from March Madness, it’s tough to blame them.

More people watched Iowa take on South Carolina in the Women’s National Championship than they did the Men’s National Championship to the tune of four million. Iowa’s game against UConn in the Final Four was neck and neck with the men’s title game, while the Hawkeyes’ matchup in the Elite Eight versus LSU was a bigger draw than the NBA Finals average viewership in 2023, as well as the World Series.

People gravitate toward the “new.” They want to see something historic. That’s what they got watching Iowa, and that’s what the WNBA hoped for by over-scheduling the Fever.

We didn’t need to see the Fever on back-to-back days when a team like the Lynx is in the same time slot. However, jersey sales, attendance numbers, and overall revenue indicate otherwise.

On Monday, rookie Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky had a passionate speech where she spoke about the reason why people watch basketball is bigger than one person. That’s not untrue, but people paid much more attention to that specific quote than the gist of her full comment.

“A lot of us have done so much for this game. Chennedy has been here before obviously. There are so many great players in this league that have deserved this [attention] for a really, really long time. Luckily, it’s coming now.”

But the attendance from this past weekend highlights how captivating fans expect Clark to be:

Attendance at non-Caitlin Clark WNBA games this past weekend:

7,638
4,015
9,878
7,035
3,265
10,207
7,024

Attendance at Caitlin Clark WNBA games this past weekend:

17,274
17,401 https://t.co/JyxdFe8FwQ

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 3, 2024

Again, a large piece of the blame can be pointed toward the people who make the schedule. But is that any different from any other league? Promoting the No. 1 pick in favor of the player who went No. 3, No. 7, or any other rookie? Hardly.

The team that finished worst in the WNBA last year has, on average, the highest attendance in the W in 2024, as of writing:

Now, let’s compare those numbers to the entire season from 2023:

It’s still early, but the game’s growth is staggering. The Fever have quadrupled their attendance, while only the Atlanta Dream and Washington Mystics have plateaued.

Clark and Reese saw their jerseys sell out before the season started. Reese has 3.3 million followers on Instagram, and Clark has 2.2 million — mind-boggling numbers. The league is headed in the right direction. However, the early data pokes a hole in the argument that Clark doesn’t move the needle more than other players.

The needle
The Fever already broke their total attendance from 2023 through five games and have seen their numbers spike nearly 96 percent. It’s bizarre that we have to explain the reason for Clark’s popularity is that she’s the all-time leading scorer and three-point shooter who is in range once the ball is a couple of dribbles beyond half court.

The prevailing argument is that other players have achieved greatness and should be rewarded and recognized more than a first-year player. It doesn’t help that Clark is receiving sponsors and shoe deals when the reigning MVP, A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, doesn’t have her own signature shoe and was only added by Gatorade after they included Clark.

Wilson is objectively the best player in the sport.

It’s a surprise if she goes a game without double-digit rebounds. To me, the lefty’s game is reminiscent of Tim Duncan. Pure dominance. She will face you up, and if you give her too much space, she’ll knock down the mid-range jumper. A’ja can post you up, score over either shoulder, is quick enough to blow by most bigs, and has always been an above-average free throw shooter. Plus, she’s arguably the best rim protector in the W.

Like Duncan, Wilson is also a prime example of how only some players are a cash cow in marketing. You can’t pick who people want to like; they will decide that for you. In the W’s case, when we’re talking about who should have been the face or gotten the pub that Clark is today, the answer isn’t as easy as some of these clips suggest.

Post players are not driving views. That’s not and will likely never be the reason the W gains more popularity. I admire Reese’s unwavering confidence, as all of the greats possess that quality, but fans want to tune in and see something they never have before.

That’s why Clark is gaining the attention she is. It’s because of her skill. The argument isn’t that Reese is without talent. She’s the type of player every team needs. She’s to the Sky what Dereck Lively is to the Dallas Mavericks.

Now, when you watch the NBA Finals coming up, will it be because of the hustle plays and extra possessions Lively creates or the shot-making that Dallas has in the backcourt? When we bring the conversation back to basketball, you begin to understand why the WNBA made the schedule the way they did.

Diana Taurasi is widely recognized as one of the greatest players in league history. When the Phoenix Mercury won a championship in 2007, their first with Taurasi, DT averaged over 7.5 field goal attempts from over 20 feet out. That number wasn’t topped until Taurasi matched that figure a decade later in 2017.

As the game evolved and players became more comfortable shooting from distance, more and more players expanded their shooting range. Statistically, Ivory Latta is the first player to shoot consistently from beyond 25 feet in the W. She averaged 1.3 field goal attempts from 25+ feet with the Dream back in 2008.

Until 2018, Tina Thompson was the only player to average more than two field goal attempts from that distance in a single season. The boom came in 2018 when eight players averaged at least two field goal attempts from 25+ feet:

Kelsey Mitchell – Fever
Kristi Toliver – Mystics
Taurasi – Mercury
Victoria Vivans – Fever
Elena Delle Donne – Mystics
Kayla McBride – Aces
Dewanna Bonner – Mercury

Once the league added players like Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, and Ogunbowale, these “logo threes” became increasingly popular.

So, what makes Clark so different? So far, she’s averaging 5.6 field goal attempts from 25+ feet, which is already a record high in the WNBA. Clark’s shooting numbers aren’t nearly as good as they were compared to her time at Iowa. She’s shooting 29 percent from three and 35 percent from the field, but we have four years suggesting a regression to the mean is on the way.

Clark is also eighth in the league in assists per 36 minutes. She came into the W as an accomplished passer and would be higher if not for some obvious blown bunnies from her teammates. So, to say she’s one-dimensional is flat-out false. I’d argue that Clark is a better passer than a shooter, and that trait separates her from long-distance snipers like Taurasi and Ionescu.

We are talking about a transcendent shooter with skills as a passer that you can see when she makes outlets down the court, pocket passes in the pick-and-roll, or sees plays before they develop and still delivers an accurate pass. That’s why the W chose Clark as their golden child. She’s an elite playmaker who will leave you thinking every shot will go down. The process is there. The results shouldn’t be far behind.

Ironically, Clark’s idol, Maya Moore, was the best option in yesteryear’s WNBA to be the face of the league. She was an incredible hooper with zero deficiencies. Moore retired early to focus on issues far greater than basketball. Unfortunately, what she stands for isn’t well received by the general public and would surely hurt “views” for the WNBA.

The incident
In Reese’s defense, it will help if we as viewers ignore the Olbermanns and Portnoys of the world, who don’t look at this objectively and go out of their way to be nasty to Black women when they feel like the Clarks of the game are being targeted. Some of the comments are vile and would never be said in person.

Furthermore, Reese had every right to be upset about not receiving the same level of attention when Alyssa Thomas had her hand around Reese’s neck and followed through as Reese fell on her back, almost parallel to the ground. Reese was also shouldered to the ground against the New York Liberty in an earlier matchup this season.

Neither were basketball plays, nor was the play this past Saturday in the Fever-Sky game when Clark fell after Chennedy Carter hip-checked her to the ground from behind.

When people see Carter do that, and the Sky’s bench reacts and cheers the way they do, the “jealousy” and “hate” comments are inevitable. Watching Saturday’s game and the Fever this season in general, there’s an added motivation for teams not to let Clark get over on them.

That checks out, as she’s the No. 1 pick. The overreaction to physicality and full-court press of Clark has led to some talking heads missing the point and thinking the masses want her to be coddled. Has anybody said that…ever? Unless it was an exaggeration or in jest, I must’ve missed that on the interwebs.

If you want to “welcome her to the league,” keep running Clark through pick and rolls until her teammates learn how to call out screens. Run her ragged, make her play defense, isolate her 1-on-1, and take her off the dribble. And if you score against her, as Carter did, talk trash. Let her know. Get in her face. That’s hoops.

But the extra, unnecessary hits that take Clark, Reese, or any player off their feet are not going to help the game grow, and it’ll always be a bad look. In no way does that mean you should baby Clark. Go hard at her. Just do it when she’s looking, and the ball is in play. Simple.

And if you want to make Reese the villain?

“I’ll take that because look at where women’s basketball is. People are talking about women’s basketball that you’d never think would be talking about women’s basketball,” Reese said. “People are pulling up to games, we’ve got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas, just because of one single game. I’ll take the bad guy role. I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates.”

We don’t need any villains in basketball. Carter is too intriguing a scorer to follow Dillon Brooks’s path, and Reese has too much upside to be fueled by hate. The W will be better off if those two exude positivity and ignore what comes from the cesspool known as social media.

The adjustment
As Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink, and most rookies have shown, physicality takes time to get used to. This is not the NBA. Contact is actually allowed. At times, it seems like “no blood, no foul” are the rules in the W. Unless you’re going up and are fouled on the shot, good luck getting a call.

The hard fouls in the WNBA would make NBA players and coaches from the 80s and 90s smile. I have no doubt that’s why it’s taken time for players like Clark, Reese, and Brink to adjust.

Brink was a rebounding machine at Stanford. I’ve seen her get moved off her spot or simply lose the ball more times as a rookie than all of last year. Clark has shot under 30 percent from three as many times as she’s shot over 35 percent. And while she’s playing out of position, in my opinion, while the other rookie gets into playing shape, watching Angel go 3-for-12 and hurl up shots with zero touch tells me she’s still figuring life out, too.

The future
Caitlin is just the tip of the iceberg. Next year’s No. 1 overall pick out of UConn is a better overall, more complete player than Clark. Whenever LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson decides to declare, look out. Her skill set and handle will make her a headache. And USC’s JuJu Watkins might be better than all of them.

The WNBA’s future is bright. The influx of talent is happening quickly, and many want recognition, and justifiably so. But some players are just…different. They move differently. They shoot differently. The game comes easier to them. It’s natural.

How they play is aesthetically more pleasing to the casual fan. That has to matter in these discussions, yet it’s conveniently ignored. This is a sport. Double standards are prevalent. This game, much like life, isn’t fair. Reese should be commended for speaking up and explaining how she feels.

That can be true, and we can keep it “basketball.” When we do, we can acknowledge Clark’s style of play and the pipeline of players who will soon follow her, making them more “watchable.” It’s not because of their skin, position, or any other nonsense that’s out there. It’s about what they do and how they do it on the court.

The game is evolving right into Clark’s wheelhouse. So, naturally, she’ll be the poster child for a league looking for an identity. It’d be strange if the league didn’t embrace her.