Caitlin Clark currently leads the WNBA in many different statistics, and the league still doesn’t care. Why do I say that? The All-Star was just voted the 11th best guard in the league by her peers. Not 11th best player… the 11th best guard. That’s utterly absurd.
The WNBA has a bit of a problem on their hands. Both the league and the players that make it up can’t seem to get behind the idea that the W’s most famous player should be the face of the whole thing. Caitlin Clark brought eyes to the league that weren’t ever there before when she joined the Indiana Fever. Now, in her third season, she’s still fighting to get the recognition that she very much deserves.
She was just voted the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for her stellar play in June (she already has the 4th most Player of the Month awards by a guard in WNBA history) and yet, those in the WNBA just voted her as the 11th best guard in the league:
In other words, she’s already supplanting herself as an all-time WNBA great, as her game has seamlessly translated to the pro level and she continues to enforce her talent and deep-range-shooting ability. Fans love watching the talented guard do her thing, and she’s brought unprecedented attention not only to women’s basketball… but women’s sports as a whole.
She should be celebrated, but her WNBA peers don’t see it that way.
With the WNBA’s All-Star game coming up on July 25, the voting to determine who gets All-Star honors has already commenced. In no surprise at all, Caitlin Clark was named an All-Star starter. And though she got an overwhelming amount of All-Star votes from fans, and the media to some extent, Clark’s fellow WNBA players voted her as the 11th best guard in the league.
Just to be clear, that means that other WNBA players across the league believe there are 1o players at the guard position better than Caitlin Clark. Last year, Clark was ranked 9th… so she somehow got even worse in the eyes of the players across the W:
As you can see in the chart above, Clark was voted the second best guard in the league by fans (only behind phenom Paige Bueckers) and the third best guard by the media.
All this to say that the WNBA continues to be unaccepting of the star that quite literally changed professional women’s basketball – and women’s sports in general – for the better. Without Caitlin Clark, the WNBA would still be struggling to bring in revenue and put up respectable TV numbers. Hell, Clark could start her own league and sports fans would follow her to that over the WNBA. She could put the league out of business if she really wanted to.
Clark’s opponents on the court struggle to understand that if it weren’t for Caitlin Clark, the league would be a lot worse off. And I get there’s a competitive component to it all, but when you are supposed to cast a vote for the best guard in the league, you should put your feelings aside and give Caitlin Clark the respect she deserves. There’s no other way to put it… it’s nothing but pure jealousy.
Oh, and before you go, here is Caitlin Clark talking about the horrific no call (where she got punched in the throat) from last week:
Good for Caitlin Clark for standing up for herself.
