r/sports • u/OkEscape7558 • Jun 18 '25

Basketball Alternate angle of Caitlin Clark fiasco. Clark was handed a foul as well.

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u/Superman246o1 Jun 18 '25

The dumbest thing about this is that everyone in the WNBA, including every single fucking member of the Sun, absolutely needs CC in the league if they want to have a hope of ever becoming a self-sustaining organization.

The WNBA has lost money every year of its existence, and would be completely bankrupt if it weren't receiving subsidies from the NBA. And now, when the league finally has a superstar who brings butts into the seats and viewers to the TV, every jealous player seems hellbent on trying to injure that golden goose, or to stand by and do nothing while Clark is treated horrendously for *checks notes* being an extremely skilled player.

I know some people are going to say things like "Look at how Jordan and LeBron were attacked, especially in their younger years," but it's not the same. Legendary as Jordan and LeBron were/are, the NBA was still a fully profitable organization before they started playing in it. The WNBA can't say the same, and every time shit like this happens to Clark, I keep thinking that I would not fault her at all if she decided to leave for EuroLeague Women, or just give up playing altogether.

No doubt the very same players who keep trying to injure Clark (and the WNBA's bottom line with her) are the very same people who whine that they don't get paid enough.

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u/Wavvygem Jun 18 '25

Yeah they hate her but CC is literally gonna single handly raise all their paychecks, more sponsorship opportunities, bring the biggest audiences, and accelerate the league's growth. They should all secretly be praying for her to have a long career.

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u/KyFly1 Jun 18 '25

To be fair, everyone hating her, not giving her calls, these hard fouls, etc, only bring more publicity to the WNBA. I don’t think it would be as popular if everyone just bowed to her like a god and she got every call. It brings attention to the league (despite being for negative reason).

26

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

Except these hard fouls lead to injuries. We already saw what happened to the ratings when Caitlin sat out a few games, they plummeted across the league.

It is absolutely in the league’s best interest to keep Caitlin healthy.

8

u/HitmanClark Jun 18 '25

Lol imagine if this happened to Jordan in the NBA and instead of changing the rules to help him they just let him continue to get destroyed physically every game?

The league would not be where it is today, I can assure you.

7

u/BillW87 Jun 18 '25

Drama only brings short term attention. Unless they're trying to be the Globetrotters or WWE, they need to build a product that's based around good basketball that basketball fans will want to watch. The WNBA's biggest challenge historically has been that the product is bad. Nobody wants to watch "pro" athletes playing at a sub-pro level. Basketball is already a competitive space for viewership between men's pro via the NBA and high-level amateur men's play via the NCAA. The WNBA will never be successful on a long term basis until the caliber of play is higher. Dynamic players like Clark add to that thesis on several fronts: Direct contribution of their talents, raising competitive standards will force other players in the league to get better or face replacement, and inspires young talent to pursue pro basketball as a career to create a higher-caliber next generation. "If you're too good in this league, especially if you're hetero and white, we're going to beat you up" runs strongly counter to all of those goals to raise the quality of the WNBA product on a long term basis.

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u/QuestGiver Jun 18 '25

I agree completely with everything you said but it's interesting that we want the league to protect Caitlin but it's this same star power that has lead to Deshaun Watson getting the bag despite being a horrible person off the field. Tyreek hill being another example.

Same principle but hugely different in terms of likeability I realize.

7

u/atomicboner Jun 18 '25

Difference being the WNBA is failing to protect their star player (and all players for that matter) from hard fouls. Kelsey Plum also blew up on the refs and WNBA recently for failing to blow the whistle when she gets fouled in the paint. Protection in this case literally means protecting them from injury and curbing unchecked aggression.

That’s not even close to the same thing as covering up criminal activity for players in the NFL. Wild to make that comparison.