THIS IS THE BEST OF CAITLIN CLARK, WHO CAN DRESS AND TALK AS SHE PREFERS
Her performances are masterful in the WNBA, where she returned from a long vacation to excel — though the U.S. Olympic team almost lost the gold medal and needed her for magic and broadcast ratings
If you want reasons to malign Caitlin Clark, she keeps leaving peepholes. She told the Seattle Storm bench to “stop crying” the other day before she was restrained by teammates. Then she mentioned how season tickets to Indiana Fever games were “pretty expensive,” as she intercepted a question for guard Lexie Hull, raging on to say in a media conference, “It’s like our entire salary to get those. I’m not kidding. We need people to help.”
When she entered Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Clark wore a Rolex watch worth $15,000, carried a Versace tote bag worth $1,995, sported John Hardy Icon bracelets at $3,000, displayed an outfit worth $825 and had a pair of Nike Air Force sneakers at $115. Her friends in West Des Moines, and those in Indianapolis, would remind her not to wear $21,000 worth of accoutres and complain about ticket prices when the New York Post gossiped about it. In the scope of overall WNBA salaries, sure, she is correct, while making her $76,535 this season in a four-season deal worth $338,056. But she’s also earning $28 million over the next eight years in a Nike contract, part of her growing inventory of business endorsements.
So, rip her.
But I won’t.
We are seeing the very best of Clark on the hardwood, which is some statement considering how she has inspired America in college basketball and the WNBA. She can say what she wants and dress as she wants if her performances match the clout, right? By missing the Paris Olympics — where Team USA almost lost the gold medal and could have used her magical passing touches and three-point bombery — she took a rest from the sport and returned as a complete player. Her profile has changed radically since earlier this season, when the league targeted her as a white, media-coddled superstar making commercial megabucks while Black stars were largely ignored.
The best player, A’ja Wilson, put it this way: “I think it's a huge thing. I think a lot of people may say it's not about black and white, but to me, it is. It really is because you can be top notch at what you are as a black woman, but yet maybe that's something that people don't want to see. They don't see it as marketable, so it doesn't matter how hard I work. It doesn't matter what we all do as black women, we're still going to be swept underneath the rug. That's why it boils my blood when people say it's not about race because it is.”
Politely, Clark listened and maintained her balance. “I think there's opportunities for every single player in women's basketball,” she said. “I think the more opportunities we can give across the board, that's what's going to elevate women's basketball. It doesn't need to be just one or two players. The parity in women's basketball is what's making more people want to come watch it. I think the more we can spread the love, show people, show their talent, show their teams — that's just going to elevate it.”
These days, her deep competitive passion and remarkable skill-making have led the Fever to the edge of the playoffs. Once 1-8, they’ve since gone 12-7 and plan on doing more damage — as she did during her NCAA tournaments. Clark is so fired up to lead the league in assists and climb to 12th in scoring, she has received five technical fouls and is two short of a mandatory one-game suspension. In a 92-75 victory over Seattle, she thanked the referee for penalizing her. “I got a technical for basically being mad at myself because I missed the three, and I went and hit the backboard, and he told me it was disrespectful to the game of basketball,” she said. “It reminded me of a technical that I got in college where I said ‘Damn it,’ where it’s like a personal frustration. Had nothing to do with my team. It had nothing to do with referee-ing. It had nothing to do with the other team. It was just because I’m a competitor and I felt like I should’ve been making more shots.”
During a recent blockbuster show at home, when she rambled with 29 points and 10 assists, an Olympian with a new gold medal was stunned sitting at courtside. Tyrese Haliburton leaped from his seat and eventually went online, saying on X, “Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge.” He is the star of the Pacers but has taken a backseat to No. 22. Being fired at ESPN didn’t stop Robert Griffin III from defending Clark during her spat with the Storm’s Skylar Diggins-Smith, which was followed by another opponent, Jewell Loyd, ignoring a question about her.
“It’s VERY CLEAR WNBA players are tired of Caitlin Clark getting all the shine and being the vocal point of every discussion,” Griffin wrote. “It’s beyond competitiveness and physical play. They don’t even want to answer questions about her. If they don’t like it, THEN STOP HER.”
Said Shannon Sharpe on his podcast: “Y’all (are) mad because that corn fed Iowa girl (is) busting your ass. Y’all said she’s too weak. ‘She can’t do this.’ She’s leading the WNBA in assists. She’s cooking. Let her cook! Let her cook!”
Both broadcasters are Black.
Rather than praise her long-overdue vacation, she thanked her Fever teammates. “I think just getting to know my teammates and playing with them, it’s a comfortability,” Clark said. “It was gonna take me a bit of time to get used to. It was hard to adjust, and once I kind of found my groove so far, I think we’ve just been getting better and better.”
The new issue is whether Clark or Angel Reese should be Rookie of the Year. Reese is a double-double machine, yes. But Clark continues to be an all-time icon. Some media people want them to share the trophy. Please.
“I always say C-Squared is one of those players where her IQ is gonna take us a lot of places,” teammate Kelsey Mitchell said. “So, you really gotta fill in where you fit in as far as knowing how to read and adjust off her. And once you make that adjustment, I think obviously it’s really good basketball.”
Sometime soon, Larry Bird will get away from his goofball Allstate commercials and attach himself to Clark in the downtown arena. Already, Magic Johnson has made the pitch. “Yeah, call Larry Bird. Yeah, call Larry Bird. Ask him for advice,” he said. “I mean, Indiana. He's already there. And I think that he could give her great advice on how to handle these situations because he went through it himself. So it would be a perfect sit... a situation. He already lived there. I think it would be great.”
Bird still scouts players. He watched Clark in the Big Ten. He can teach her about race and media and life. But at this point, she doesn’t need much help. She is 22. She has figured it out.
Let her talk. Let her spend. Let her pose for style. Let her shoot, let her pass, let her keep winning.
And anyone who doesn’t like it can cry.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.