At some point, with all the tinder lying around, a spark was bound to start a fire.
Chennedy Carter was the flint. Caitlin Clark was the rock. And a few days later, the landscape is still engulfed in ever-increasing flames.
It’s true that Carter’s shoulder check on Clark was not a basketball play. It’s also true that this type of physical competition happens quite often in basketball, and especially in the WNBA. If things had been different, if history had been more favorable to the sporting and professional endeavors of women, it might have stayed in the season timeline for a while. A video to put in the bucket for a rivalry feature film.
Instead, it fueled the growing discourse around Clark and the WNBA. In the same way executives described the rising tide of women’s basketball that brought another sellout crowd to watch Clark’s Indiana Fever defeat Carter’s Chicago Sky on Saturday afternoon, the game in question caused the collision of too many already active atoms.
Clark is almost undeniably the most recognizable name to join the WNBA, aged 28. There have been many other superstars, but none have ever made it into the league in national television commercials and on grocery store window stickers. Only the first players from 1996 – Sheryl Swoopes, Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, etc. – could come close. Because of this, many people are watching the WNBA for the first time. There are media figures speaking about it for the first time, and their opinions are not always rooted in historical knowledge. Players face media coverage and criticism they have rarely received at this level.
Carter’s shoulder check was cheap, even in the accepted reality of physical W basketball. It was clear that this wasn’t a basketball game and it wasn’t necessary. Referees often go to the monitors to review possible improvements on smaller, more accidental plays, and confusing technical calls could be considered a trademark of the WNBA. The blatant should have been assessed for “unnecessary contact” and we all should have moved on.
Before Saturday’s game, three players received fouls that were improved during in-game reviews. Mercury guard Kahleah Copper received a flagrant 1 on opening night when her shooting hand fell to the face of Kelsey Plum. Sparks guard Aari McDonald’s foul on Clark was upgraded to 1 blatant for a “reckless closeout” while defending a deep transition 3-pointer. Alyssa Thomas drew the highest-profile flagrant this season when she knocked Angel Reese to the floor on a rebound opportunity and was ejected with a flagrant 2.
Clark’s most recent incident has not been reviewed or upgraded at this time, as it clearly should have been the initial spark. Even in the hours following the incident, fans and social media personalities continued to insist that it was no big deal because the play, in fact, was called technical. Add to that the TV angle and slow-motion replays that made the hit worse with Carter yelling something at Clark as she hit her, and Angel Reese jumping up to celebrate on the bench, and we had all the makings of a good old game. disagreement. And the discussions continue, even if they are misguided, with Pat McAfee being another bold and misguided example.
Clark endured a grueling college schedule with 11 games in 20 days for the Fever. That’s about a third of a three-week college season, and she’s the No. 1 target in the defensive game plans of the league’s best teams. A lot of the physicality she faces is part of the game and part of being a star rookie that veterans don’t want to be embarrassed by. Clark herself has said repeatedly that she understands the nature of the league and that with a full offseason, she will have time to bulk up and compete better, just like guards Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum have. done in recent years. She doesn’t need anyone to protect her from this reality. She is a true fan of the game, having grown up attending Minnesota Lynx games with her father during their dynasty. She knows.
Other things, like this Carter move, are borderline and shouldn’t be left without repercussions. And while on paper that simply meant one more free throw and the ball for the Fever, in reality a stronger message should have been sent that this type of play will not be tolerated.
“Physical play, intensity and competitive spirit are hallmarks of Chicago Sky basketball,” Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said in a statement Monday. “Chennedy got caught up in the heat of the moment in an effort to win the match. She and I talked about what happened and how it wasn’t appropriate for what we’re doing or who we are.
Weatherspoon is right. Sport is a competitive atmosphere and emotions can escape the player. Why the Hall of Fame player didn’t say anything about the game after the game other than her “all they do is compete” only fueled fire.
Weatherspoon cut off postgame media questions directed at Carter that offered the player the opportunity to explain the incident in his own words. In Fever’s room down the hall, Clark took the high road by answering several questions about the interaction and didn’t blame anyone. “That’s how it is,” she said repeatedly. She sits for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, three times a day on match days, of which she has already had 11 to Sky’s seven, and answers easy, difficult and sometimes repetitive questions. Fans see it and react to it.
Meanwhile, Reese, one half of the headlining rookie duo alongside Clark, declined Saturday to speak to the media. It revived the charred branch of media access and player accountability in a league known for demanding more coverage. WNBA media protocol requires teams to make two players and a head coach available at a press conference after a maximum 10-minute reflection period. Any other healthy players must be made available upon request to a member of the media via written and verbal communication. The arrangement was agreed to by the WNBA Players Association and the league to replace open access to locker rooms that was closed ahead of the 2023 season.
Several members of the media asked to speak with Reese on Saturday. It doesn’t help that the Sky franchise has a history of breaking the rules and often makes access to players difficult. The WNBA fined Reese and the franchise, as it did with 2023 Finals runner-up Liberty and 2021 runner-up Mercury.
In the absence of context from the players themselves, the controversy has spread further. This allowed people, some of whom never watched women’s basketball but saw a clip on their social media feed, to make their own assumptions and erroneous claims about intent.
Carter’s only meaningful comment after the match – “I’m not answering any questions from Caitlin Clark” – only added to all of this. And she kept her feet out of the heat, because while she may not have felt like answering questions about Clark, she clearly had things to say about the star rookie. She muted the responses and bounced wherever she wanted on social media after the match.
Carter, a 2020 lottery pick who has a checkered history in the league, can say whatever she wants. Anyone who followed Clark, a well-known orator, to the WNBA should appreciate it. But if you’re going to bullshit, stick to it when it counts.
Cheap shooting aside, the league could use the beef. It formerly went by the name “144,” a nod to the number of spots on the roster. He now wants to rely on rivalries and marketing superstars, because that’s how sports work. More people saw Carter and Clark’s night live because they watched Clark, Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The number of people now considering the Sky-Fever rematch is increasing.
Years of egregious misconduct preceded Carter’s and attracted far less attention. An iconic clip of Diana Taurasi bumping Seimone Augustus and giving her a kiss on the cheek during the 2013 playoffs made the rounds this weekend as an example of W drama. Taurasi received a technical notice. They each answered it in the (again, iconic) post-game media availability.
Still, it was a different time on a smaller platform. The game is growing now and players must grow with it.