Even a couple of weeks later, Alyssa Thomas’s flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark is forcing some uncomfortable conversations around the Fever guard. As coaches, players, and the WNBA came to Alyssa Thomas’s defense after social media harassment, it also started a conversation about the physicality Clark has had to deal with inside the paint. Broadcaster Robin Lundberg recently made a clear-cut assessment in this regard after UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s latest remarks around the WNBA star.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“You should be coming to her defense, and players should be coming to her defense,” Lundberg said on his YouTube channel.
“That is part of the point. She didn’t ask for any of this. None of this is about her. And no one will say, ‘That was a deserving suspension, or I hope Caitlin Clark is okay, or leave Clark alone’. She didn’t ask for this. She didn’t do this, and she stood up and spoke about these things a million times.”
“I think you get to the root of it with Geno a little bit there, too, when he’s sort of trying to undercut the impact and influence that Caitlin Clark has had on the league by saying it’s not Tiger or Wemby. Wemby is a crazy player, and he’s a whole different animal. But he’s had nowhere close to the impact that Clark has on the WNBA.”
For context, Clark alone accounted for more than 26% of the league’s fiscal activity in her rookie season, according to NBC Sports. Even from an on-court perspective, Clark was entering the league as a generational guard, the No. 1 draft pick in 2024.
While this has made Caitlin Clark the league’s “golden goose”, it has led to major caveats for the Fever guard on the court because of this fandom. In fact, Geno Auriemma has admitted that Clark may be facing
“I do think there are some personal animosities in that league where people are going to take a shot at [Clark] unfairly,” Auriemma said in his conversation with Richard Deitsch on the Sports Media Podcast.
The Alyssa Thomas incident is only the most recent example of what Clark’s teammates like Sophie Cunningham believe she faces in every game.
This is where the WNBA coaches and players should take a firm stand for Clark, as per Lundberg. After all, Caitlin Clark never demanded the attention from the fans she is getting now, nor did she want to be the league’s face. It’s just a by-product of what she does on the court.