BOSTON — The hard fouls. The taunts. The apparent jealousy, developing rivalry and real discussions of race and sex in women’s basketball.
All of those things are a part of WNBA rookie and, let’s face it, superstar Caitlin Clark’s first few weeks in the league, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver said most of it “can be ultimately good for the sport.”
“As a fan, it’s nothing new in basketball that there’s sort of ‘welcome to the league’ moments, especially for heralded rookies,” Silver said during his annual pre-Finals news conference Thursday night in response to questions about Clark, whose WNBA debut has sparked enormous interest.
The NBA, which Silver leads, owns the WNBA, and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert reports to Silver.
“Of course, I want to see Caitlin treated fairly and appropriately in the league,” Silver said. “I would say it seems like she can take care of herself. She’s a tough player.
“I think ultimately this is very healthy for women’s basketball in the WNBA. It’s generating tremendous additional interest. In fairness to the other players and in fairness to commissioner Engelbert, this didn’t just start this year.”
Silver continued: “Certainly we are seeing an acceleration of it with Caitlin, but there are many individual stars who came into this league over the last several years.”
The Indiana Fever drafted Clark, the NCAA all-time leading scorer from the University of Iowa, at No. 1 in April. The considerable buzz she generated and the popularity with which she seemed to enter the league may have rubbed at least some WNBA veterans the wrong way. There were charges such as Clark being more popular than incumbent WNBA stars because she is White or heterosexual.
But it erupted into perhaps the dominant topic of discussion in the world of sports last week, when Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter blasted Clark in the back in an aggressive, non-basketball act in the second half of a game, and her rookie teammate and Clark rival Angel Reese celebrated on the bench.
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The fallout included sports media types struggling to articulate non-offensive analysis of the controversy — Pat McAfee, for instance, called Clark a derogatory slur while trying to defend her — while Sky players have said they’ve been harassed in public.
“I don’t want to make too big of an issue out of one particular play,” Silver said. “I think the burgeoning rivalries in professional basketball — you see rivalries among clubs but also between individual players too, and I think that can be ultimately good for the sport. At the same time, there are also some larger societal issues at work, there is no doubt. I don’t want to hide from that. Some of them have to do with race and they are very apparent.
“I think sports historically has been a platform for people to talk directly about these issues. I don’t think we should hide from them. The players are happy to engage on these issues — they’re sophisticated people, but ultimately let’s let the public join part of those conversations as well.”
As for McAfee, who works for ESPN, a broadcaster partner for the NBA and WNBA, Silver said, “He apologized, and I accept that.”
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(Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
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