Caitlin Clark debate rages over whether Fever teammates should protect her amid physical defense

Caitlin Clark is getting the business.

Through her first 11 WNBA games, Clark has faced persistent physicality from veteran defenders in what has been a welcome-to-the-league moment for the touted Indiana Fever rookie.

Already the focal point of every opponent’s gameplan, Clark was most recently held down Sunday by the Liberty’s Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, whose tenacious defense helped limit the 22-year-old to a career-low three points on 1-of-10 shooting.

Opponents’ physical treatment of the sharp-shooting guard commanded national attention on Saturday when Chicago’s Chennedy Carter body-checked Clark to the ground on an away-from-the-ball foul that was later upgraded to a flagrant 1.

That attention included former NBA enforcer Matt Barnes, among other media personalities, questioning why Clark’s teammates aren’t sticking up for her.

“Throughout the season, she’s been getting beat up,” Barnes said in an Instagram video. “Hard screens. Elbows. Knocked down. It is what it is. She’s not the first. She won’t be the last. My issue and my question is: Where the f–k are her teammates?”

Barnes continued, “I’ve seen a couple girls smirk when she’s got knocked down. Half-a– to pick her up. Like, y’all are supposed to protect the asset, protect the star.”

The debate marks the latest controversy involving Clark and her teammates. With Indiana off to a slow start, fellow Fever star Aliyah Boston received abuse on social media, much of which came from fans of Clark and featured racial undertones.

Boston, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, confirmed last month that she had deleted X from her phone.

“I’m off it so it’s not really any worries for me,” Boston told reporters last month, according to USA Today. “It’s just been something that I prefer just not to see.”

...continued

swipe to next page