Jason Whitlock says black WNBA players are racist toward Caitlin Clark and criticized networks like ESPN for not addressing it.
Clark has faced rough treatment throughout her first pro season, with some suggesting her opponents are jealous of her remarkable impact on women’s basketball.
The latest incident occurred on Sunday when Seattle Storm’s Skylar Diggins-Smith, an Olympic gold medalist and six-time WNBA all-star, intentionally bumped into Clark after she led the Indiana Fever to a 92-75 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Clark remained unfazed and continued celebrating with the home fans, but Whitlock argues this was yet another example of racist behavior by the WNBA’s black players.
He said: ‘One of the biggest stories in sports the last year and a half, and the person to be that should be “Sportsperson of the Year” is Caitlin Clark.
‘What cannot be discussed is the level of racial animus that is being directed at her. If you’re in independent media, if you’re Twitter you can talk about it all the time, but I have yet to see it discussed on ESPN. Like, “holy cow, these hatin’-a** Shaniqua’s”, this is racism.
‘They played the Seattle Storm and Noelle Quinn is the Storm’s head coach. Noelle Quinn got into a heated argument with Christie Sides, the head coach of the Indiana Fever at the end of the game.
‘They got their doors blown off by Caitlin Clark and the Fever and at the end of it, Noelle Quinn starts yelling, screaming, and preaching at Christie Sides. What it was about was at the end of the game, Caitlin Clark, they’re up big, there’s a timeout, she’s down at the end of the court where the Seattle Storm bench is and she’s clapping and motioning to the crowd to keep pumping up the noise.
‘Skylar Diggins intentionally bumps into Caitlin Clark and carries her into the Storm huddle and sideline area. You can see at the very end of the clip, Noelle Quinn gets triggered.
‘She gets triggered because she thinks Clark is showing up the Seattle Storm team, but if she had not been bumped into by Skylar Diggins, she would have been nowhere near the Storm bench.
‘To me, it’s just another example of these black women – they got this animosity.
‘It’s not all of them but it’s enough of them that seem to be so bothered by the success of Caitlin Clark that they lose their composure, they lose their self-control, they just get triggered by her success, and it’s like no one is talking about it.’
Whitlock argued that Clark is the second-best player in the WNBA, after A’Ja Wilson, and could be a strong contender for the MVP award.
‘If you eliminate the first ten games and just evaluate what Clark’s done the last 18 games, she’s the second-best player in the league, and has a case for MVP of the league if you just evaluate the last 18-19 games.
‘She probably won’t get it next year, but she’ll probably be the best player in the league next year and should be the MVP. Her teammates have jumped on board with her because winning is infectious. They understand a rising tide lifts all boats.
‘But there is this angry group – Noelle Quinn, Jewell Lloyd won’t talk about her. Even Skylar Diggins, who I like, took that little shove at her. They’re just enraged, jealous, and petty, and – I’m just sorry – it’s racist and it’s bigoted.
‘If this were happening to a Black player by a bunch of White players, this would be leading Sportscenter every night and every ESPN talk show.
‘People called me crazy when I said “she won’t be facing death threats like Jackie Robinson”, but this might be more difficult than Jackie Robinson.’
