Austin Rivers Delivers Incredibly Level-Headed Take On Caitlin Clark
On Saturday, Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter delivered a hard foul against Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. Referees assessed a common against Carter, who refused to answer questions about the incident during her postgame press conference. The WNBA upgraded the foul to a flagrant after the game.
Former NBA player Austin Rivers, son of current Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, posted a video on social media with his reaction to the play and the overall treatment of Clark by other players in the WNBA. There are a lot of wild takes flying around about the Carter-Clark kerfuffle, and Clark in general. Most of those takes surround the races of the players involved.
But Rivers elected to focus more on the individuals, mainly Caitlin Clark. He argues that Clark has brought unprecedented attention to women's basketball and the WNBA, which has led to benefits enjoyed by all players in the WNBA. For that, she should be applauded.
Former NBA player Austin Rivers delivered a reasonable take when it comes to Caitlin Clark and her opponents in the WNBA.
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Rivers is right: the WNBA, prior to this season, never turned a profit. It existed solely because the NBA paid for it to exist so that women could become professional basketball players in the United States.
Her Name Is Caitlin Clark
But this year, attendance and ratings are way up, and the league is likely to make a profit for the first time. It's pretty clear why that's happening in 2024: her name is Caitlin Clark.
"This woman comes along and brings the world in, and is now giving y'all that proper attention and respect … and instead of being appreciative and acknowledging that, you guys are coming at her with these hate-ass comments, talking about ‘it’s not just because of her, blah, blah, blah,'" Rivers said.
"It's not a coincidence. It's the Caitlin Clark-effect," he continued. "And it's not because she's white. It's not because she's straight, good God no one cares [about that] … it's because she's an unbelievable basketball player and talent. It's because she has a [basketball style] that we've never really seen before [in women's basketball]."
Yes to all of those things. It's cool to see Rivers, a former NBA player, deliver such reasonable and rational takes on Caitlin Clark. There's too much hyperbole and negativity floating around right now. Let's just enjoy the ride, particularly the women in the WNBA who are getting unprecedented attention, money and perks from Clark simply existing.