Every now and again, Stephen A. Smith delivers a take that is so spot on, it leaves you surprised. He did just that on Monday morning.
Over the weekend, some drama unfolded in the WNBA. If you didn’t catch it, no big deal, I don’t expect you to dedicate your weekend to watching the WNBA. But let me sum it up for you.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark shared some pointed words with Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter during a possession in a game on Saturday. After a made basket on the very next possession, Carter went up to Clark, called her a “b—h,” and body-checked her into the ground.
Here’s the clip of the whole interaction.
Then on the 6 PM SportsCenter something definitely changed. Carter's foul was added to the highlight package and featured prominently along with her controversial postgame comments which weren't addressed at all an hour earlier. pic.twitter.com/98kx0xD7PG
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It’s just the latest in a long line of incidents in which current WNBA players are attacking Clark for her popularity.
Related: SHOCK: LeBron James Defends Caitlin Clark After She Received Racist Backlash
Now I must say, not all of this is unusual. Clark is enduring some of the normal difficulties and borderline hazing treatment that comes with being a rookie. Some of it comes from the fact that she’s been given so much attention in such a short time, while pretty much everyone else in the WNBA hasn’t seen that level of attention. That would naturally induce jealousy in anyone.
However, Smith accurately pointed out on Monday’s episode of “First Take” that some of this hostility is racially motivated.
"There are girls – young ladies – in the WNBA who are jealous of Caitlin Clark. She is a White girl that has come into the league," Smith said. "She has bursted onto the scene. She hasn’t proven herself yet. It’s not even about them thinking they’re better than her, because they probably know it at this particular juncture, because they’ve been playing on a level she just arrived to.”
He continued: "What we’re going to do is give the level of appreciation that it deserves in terms of the venom and potential hostility that exists toward this ‘golden girl’ who happens to be White and how the WNBA is promoting her."
This isn’t just another nonsensical rant. Players like A’ja Wilson have said in the past that Clark only gets attention because she’s white.
Again, racial hostility isn’t the only reason why some WNBA players don’t like Clark. But it is certainly a noticeable element of everything that’s going on.
And that's a shame to see.
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