Let’s be honest here: no one really cares all that much about the WNBA. That said, this year there was renewed interest in the league when former University of Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark was drafted by the Indiana Fever.
That’s one of the WNBA teams, by the way.
Since joining the team, Clark has set league records and boosted attendance at games. She basically made the WNBA a bit cooler and more interesting. She undoubtedly deserves the success she’s received, including being named WNBA Rookie of the Year and being selected as Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year.
Caitlin Clark is TIME's Athlete of the Year https://t.co/WtgLuIIYhb pic.twitter.com/oGDewhUPcB
— TIME (@TIME) December 10, 2024
Her success did not come easy.
Clark became a quick and ready target for other players in the league. Why? For being white but not part of the LGBT community. I don’t even watch the WNBA, but it was still difficult not to hear about the number of times she was targeted with abuse on the court by other players. Many players seemed to assume she benefited from privilege rather than earning her spot through sheer talent. Some even speculated that her race and sexual orientation played a role in her exclusion from the U.S. Olympic team.
Recommended: Pro-Transgender Activist Assaults Nancy Mace at U.S. Capitol
Time's write-up on Clark makes her “controversial” role in the league the centerpiece of its narrative:
As the season progressed, more flashpoints emerged—whether concerning the marketing advantage granted by her race, fouls that players committed against her, or her exclusion from the U.S. Olympic team—that spurred her so-called defenders to push racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ narratives, or even threaten WNBA players directly. She calls this toxicity “upsetting” and “gross,” but during the season she addressed the discourse mostly when asked about it in courtside interviews or at press conferences rather than proactively engaging with it. “It’s not something I can control … and to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it,” she told the Athletic’s Jim Trotter in June. Her extended interview with TIME is the first time she’s talked at length about her year.
The worst part is the way TIME magazine presumes that Caitlin Clark’s popularity is because of her race and how Clark has bought into that narrative.
Clark is cognizant of the racial underpinnings of her stardom. “I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” says Clark. “A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
It’s appalling and disgraceful that Clark has been made to feel guilty about her success and pressured into succumbing to white guilt. Does the WNBA belong to black and LGBT players? Are straight, white players condemned to be otherized for having the audacity to play in their league?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member