Caitlin Clark Foe Chennedy Carter Has History Of Run-Ins With Teammates

Indiana Fever star rookie point guard Caitlin Clark is not the first WNBA player with whom Chicago guard Chennedy Carter has had issues. 

The difference this time for Carter is that Clark is on another team. 

The Sky is Carter's third team in parts of only four seasons in the WNBA, and she has been suspended or benched by two of them for poor conduct and locker room issues with teammates.

For those that have been living on another planet, Carter yelled something at Clark before using her hips and arm to shove the Fever guard to the floor while the ball was not in play during a nationally televised WNBA game on ESPN Saturday in Indianapolis. After game officials called only a routine, common foul without technical free throws and did not review the controversial play, the WNBA on Sunday reviewed it and issued a flagrant foul against Carter that could have resulted in a suspension or fine. If it happens again, that could happen.

Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter (left) walks away after knocking down Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark while the ball was not even in play during the Fever's win Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Getty Images)

FLASHBACK: Angel Reese's Suspension From LSU

Interestingly, Carter's new teammate, Angel Reese, whom she apparently gets along famously with on the Sky, was suspended for several games last season by LSU coach Kim Mulkey also for locker room issues with a teammate or teammates in addition to lackadaisical play.

Reese put her arm around Kennedy and hugged her after Kennedy decked Clark. Was this a planned hit on Clark?

Reese has a history with Clark. In the final seconds of Reese's and LSU's national championship blowout win over Clark and Iowa in 2023, Reese held up her ring finger in Clark's face to show where the national championship ring would be going. Reese continued the taunt for several seconds after the final horn as well, instead of doing what most players throughout history have done after winning championships - run to your teammates and celebrate. Clark has a history of taunting as well after making her patented, 3-point shots, but those are usually celebrations of the shot and directed at fans - not individual players on the other team.  

"I love my teammates, and I'm always going to have their backs," Reese said Monday in reference to Carter at an interview session with reporters after practice in Chicago. "So, it was just competition."

Kennedy's WNBA career has been about more than competition. She has a history of pugnacious combativeness with teammates and problems with authority.

Chennedy Carter's Previous WNBA Run-Ins

Kennedy was selected by the Atlanta Dream with the fourth pick in the 2020 WNBA draft out of Texas A&M. She had a standout rookie season before she was sidelined with a injury, but still finished second in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging 17.4 points in 16 games.

In her second season with the Dream in 2021, Kennedy tried to get into a fight with teammate and six-year veteran team leader Courtney Williams after a game. During the first quarter of that game, Kennedy was riding the bench and not very engaged in the game, according to Williams, who "emphatically told her to improve her attitude,"  according to a July, 2021, story in The Next women's basketball site.

Carter did not play at all in the second quarter and decided to stay in the locker room and pout during the second half. Carter confronted Williams after the game, but Williams walked away. Atlanta coach Mike Peterson and team brass then suspended Carter for "conduct detrimental to the team," a team statement said. There had been multiple previous instances of Carter snapping at teammates and wanting to fight. Carter never again played for the Dream, and the team traded her to the Los Angeles Sparks before the 2022 season.

Carter was benched for "poor conduct" by coach Derek Fisher and after he was fired that season, interim Sparks coach Fred Williams continued to not play Carter for four games due to a "coach's decision." Before the 2023 season, the Sparks waived Carter, who spent that season playing in Turkey. Chicago Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon gave Kennedy a break and signed Carter for the 2024 season to a one-year contract, bringing her back to the WNBA.

But Carter appeared to directly go against what her coach said Monday about the cheap shot on Clark.

"We're not trying to hurt anyone," Weatherspoon said Monday. "That's not the case, and we're not going to be that way. The message has been understood, and the example will be there. Lesson learned. We want to move on in a very positive way."

Apparently not.

"I have no regrets about what happened," Carter said Monday and never sounded nearly as apologetic as her coach, as in not at all. "I’m going to compete and play 100% hard no matter who it is or who we’re playing." 

Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter drives to the bucket against Caitlin Clark of Indiana in their game Saturday in Indianapolis. (Getty Images)

Carter may just be jealous of Clark. Her production steadily went down during her first three seasons in the WNBA as she scored 17.4 points a game in 2020, 14.2 in 2021 and 8.9 in 2022. This season, she is averaging 12 points for 36th in the league with 2.6 assists a game and 0.7 steals a game.

Clark, on the other hand, was just named the WNBA Rookie of the Month for May on Monday. Counting her June 1 and 2 games, she is 18th in the WNBA in scoring with 15.6 points a game and fourth in assists at 6.4. She is also 30th in rebounding with 5.1 a game and 34th in steals with 1.2 a game. Reese is No. 7 in the WNBA in rebounding with 8.9 a game, but only 40th in scoring with 10.6 a game.

ANALYSIS: Caitlin Clark Taking It On The Ear In WNBA

Clark will be making a yearly salary of $84,500 for four years from the Fever and has a $28 million deal with Nike for eight years, dwarfing endorsement deals all other WNBA players have. Carter is making $64,154 for the Sky.

Who knows why Carter went after Clark? The two players did have words on the other end of the court just before Carter's body block. But there was nothing physical beforehand, according to ESPN replays.

After refusing to answer any questions about Clark after the game, Carter had a story Monday for the press.

"I think I got hit in the head the play before," she said. "And it was like one of those things that was in the heat of the moment."

No ESPN replays show any such hit on Carter's head, however.

"But at the end of the day, this is hoops," Carter said. "I classify myself as a dog. So, if you're going to throw a punch, then I'm going to compete with you."

But no one threw a punch at Carter on Saturday.

But Reese did throw an arm hard and wide at Clark and knocked her down Saturday with no foul being called. The ball was in play at the time, but Reese and Clark were not near the ball. A foul should have been called against Reese.

After Carter's delusional comments, Reese made some of her own after skipping the press conference Saturday and getting fined $1,000 by the WNBA. 

"I'll take the bad guy role," Reese said. "And I'll continue to be that for my teammates. And I know I'll go down in history. I'll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women's basketball is not just because of one person (Clark). It's because of me, too.' And I want you to realize that."

Reese may be very self-absorbed in addition to delusional. 

RATINGS: Caitlin Clark Is Must-See TV

Uh, Angel, we'll see if your statement is true in 20 years. But it's definitely not true now, so "realize" this. The only non-Caitlin game to draw significant viewers this WNBA season did not involve you. It was the Minnesota-New York game on Saturday, May 25, on CBS, which drew 704,000 viewers. That was the most ever by a WNBA game on CBS. But Clark hasn't played on CBS yet.

And the largest attendance at a Chicago Sky game with Reese this season not against Indiana and Clark? Why, the 12,049 in Brooklyn, New York, at the 17,732-seat Barclays Center on May 23. Reese has played in front of five-figure attendance only twice - in Brooklyn and in front of 17,724 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Clark, meanwhile, has played in front of sellouts or close to it in every game. Indiana and Clark even drew an unheard of 13,028 for a preseason game in Indianapolis on May 9. On May 7, Reese and Chicago drew just 3,132 for a preseason game against the New York Liberty in the 10,387-seat Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Reese did make one point on Monday that made sense.

"Look where women's basketball is," she said. "People are talking about women's basketball that you never would think would be talking about women's basketball. We got celebrities coming to games, sold-out arenas."

And all because of Caitlin Clark. And apparently, Chennedy Carter and Angel Reese and many others just can't handle it.

Stay tuned.

Caitlin and the Fever play Chennedy and Angel and the Sky again on Saturday, June 16, at noon on CBS.