Who are the top 10 point guards in WNBA history?
USA TODAY’s Callie Finn breaks down Studio IX’s list of the top 10 point guards in honor of the WNBA’s 30th anniversary.
Indiana Fever All-Star Caitlin Clark and her supporters must think the rest of us are fools.
Did the foul they claim occur? What about the “bruises” she says she sustained? Worthless technology? Clark doesn’t suddenly turn invisible during physical play, so you can actually see what happened.
That means Clark is failing. And her performance while doing so puts others at risk.
Now, before I start barking and talking about the highlights Clark has brought to the WNBA and women’s basketball, I don’t hate Clark. She has the potential to be an inspirational player, and with 75 points in her last three games, her Player of the Week honor is well deserved and a gateway to female sports fandom for millions of people.
But that doesn’t entitle her to a free pass.
Mr. Clark angry that it appears he hasn’t been contacted.
Twice in the past two weeks, Clark was furious about not being called and spun a narrative that was easily debunked by video of the actual game.
First, during the Indiana Fever’s game against the Las Vegas Aces on July 12, she attempted to call a foul on Chelsea Gray. The two made contact as Gray made his way to the basket, but it was minimal. It’s no different than what we’ve seen dozens of times in every WNBA game.
Furthermore, the same goes for NBA games.
But Clark fell to the ground as if he had been hit in the stomach with a battering ram and yelled at the referee for a foul. They reviewed it and saw what everyone else thought. There were no fouls. There is almost no contact.
Three days later, in a game against the Golden State Valkyries, Clark said he was hit with a quadruple knee kick by Kia Stokes on his way to the basket. Clark was furious that no foul was called and threw a bomb, screaming at the referee.
“I got hit in the knee with my quadriceps. It hurt,” Clark said after the game. “There’s no way the referee can overlook that. Then he has to play the rest of the game with a bruised leg. That’s ridiculous. You can’t afford to overlook a call like that.”
But again, replays clearly showed that if there was any contact, it was minimal.
Let’s call this “flopping.”
Clark isn’t the only athlete to do this. Fresh off the World Cup, players routinely acted as if they needed emergency amputation, but quickly got back up and continued playing. It’s been a staple of James Harden’s career. I was also with Vlade Divac.
But just as Clark’s failures don’t happen behind closed doors, they don’t happen in a vacuum.
Abusive language and acting put your opponent at risk.
There appears to be a white supremacist element among Clark’s fans, which is a very serious problem, made even more so by the fact that the WNBA is primarily made up of black women, many of whom are queer. When Clark claims non-existent fouls or hurls profanities at referees, racists assume she’s a white woman in need of redemption and take matters into their own hands.
Gray only posted one of the messages she received after the Fever Games, in which a man called her a racial slur. After fans identified the man, he was fired by his employer, Hilton Grand Vacations.
Gray said on July 15: “I’m like, enough is enough. It’s not the first time I’ve had a message like this. There have been others… but it’s just time. I’ve had enough of it, so I just decided to share it.”
We shouldn’t need to be reminded that this country has a horrific history of black people being harmed and even murdered in the name of “protecting” white women. The WNBA All-Star Game is being held this weekend in Emmett Till’s hometown of Chicago, and a local art gallery is currently hosting an exhibit imagining what his life would have been like if he hadn’t been lynched. While it is the WNBA’s responsibility to go the extra mile to protect its players, Clark should also be expected to recognize the broader implications of his actions.
There’s no question that WNBA officiating needs to get better, but no one expects Clark to be a punching bag. But the W is a physical league and always has been. Clark draws fouls not because players are jealous or trying to get her, but because her 3-point shooting and passing ability force defenders to pick her up from the baseline. Otherwise she will make you pay.
(Incidentally, the same defensive principles apply to Sabrina Ionescu and Paige Backers, as well as JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo entering the league.)
Again, I’m not a Clark hater. She is a great asset to the league and to women’s sports.
She’ll be even better if she makes it to the Oscar audition.
Follow USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
