WNBA Players And Media Pundits Are Riding Caitlin Clark Disdain To Fame | Bobby Burack

Caitlin Clark has made her foes famous – or at least "famous" in the world of sports.

Even hardcore basketball fans were unfamiliar with Monica McNutt earlier this month. Put simply, she was just another wannabe victim on X striving to be a C-level pundit at ESPN.

Then she criticized Stephen A. Smith on "First Take" for paying too much attention to Caitlin Clark. "Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform, you could’ve been [talking about the WNBA] three years ago if you wanted to," she claimed.

Stephen A., who called McNutt's remarks "offensive," did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

McNutt soaked up the response on social media as a sympathetic figure who stood up to Stephen A. Smith. It worked. It landed her on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart Monday, where she called the notion that "it’s the league versus Caitlin" Clark "absolutely false."

Monica McNutt's name remains in the headlines nearly a week later, as she continues to ride the anti-Caitlin Clark wave to relevance.

Why did McNutt dismiss the vivid animus players have shown toward Clark? OutKick called her on Friday to ask. However, she immediately hung up the phone when the author of this article identified himself as "Bobby Burack."

Similarly, a plethora of women in the WNBA have grown their brands on the back of their public disdain for Clark. 

Sky forward Chennedy Carter, known for recently taking a cheap shot at Clark and liking tweets encouraging her to injure Clark, is now a favorite of the press.  

On Thursday, the Washington Post published an op-ed depicting Carter as the new face of insulting "black stereotypes."

"But somehow, some way, it is Clark who needs extraordinary safeguarding in the workplace of professional basketball, a contact sport policed by on-court referees in real time and further arbitrated by off-court officials after the fact. It isn’t, instead, Black women such as Griner and Carter, who are villainized to the extent that they are accosted just trying to get to their basketball-playing jobs," argued Kevin Blackistone. "#WhiteLivesMatter more, still. Or, in this case, White WNBA lives."

That's such a lie – a lie that has propelled Carter from obscurity to mainstream coverage on CNN and MSNBC.

Carter is also at the center of an "incident" in which players for the Sky allege a man "harassed" her outside a team hotel – a statement that both a video and the team general manager contradict.

(The Sky team has no comment.)

Friday, several ESPN morning shows led with a topic about Sun forward DiJonai Carrington. Shows like "First Take" and "Get Up" had never uttered her name prior to this week.

However, Carrington drew headlines earlier this week after hard-fouling Clark and mocking her as a "flopper." 

Carrington then published a tweet criticizing Clark for not defending the black women in the WNBA (yes, the black women who've targeted Clark) against critics. 

"Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see the sh*t. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury."

And then there is Angel Reese. 

No one person has benefited more from disliking Caitlin Clark than Reese has. Even radio host Dan Patrick, one of the least controversial radio hosts in sports, admitted we only know Reese because she taunted Clark during the 2023 NCAA tournament. 

"[Reese's] notoriety is based off Caitlin Clark because she wins the national title, the first thing she does is mock Caitlin Clark," Patrick said. "And then, she doesn’t even celebrate with her teammates. So, she’s made it personal with Caitlin Clark. Then, she’s played off of that.

"WNBA has been around a couple of decades and people didn’t notice the game – they’re noticing it now. Well, that’s because of Caitlin Clark, not Angel Reese," Patrick said. 

"She is a social media star, and she has capitalized on that, and maybe she embraces being the villain. But make no mistake about it, Caitlin Clark is the reason why everybody has an opinion on what happened in that game."

Some unknown blogger named James Boyd also tried to capitalize on the anti-Clark movement by asking her to acknowledge white privilege during shootaround yesterday.

You can see a clip of the exchange here.

Elle Duncan and Chiney Ogwumike lead ESPN's WNBA coverage. They have amplified claims that it's inaccurate to state WNBA players have disdain towards Clark. OutKick asked them on Friday how they could continue to arrive at such a conclusion, given the evidence available.

Neither Duncan nor Ogwumike responded on the record.

Alas, we can't tell if the names mentioned abhor Clark or are simply grifting. It's probably some combination of both.

On talent alone, the likes of Monica McNutt, DiJonai Carrington, and Chennedy Carter could never break through. But, to their fortune, smearing Caitlin Clark and her fans is an industry in demand.

Racial grievance, even when unjust, sells. The hysteria around Caitlin Clark is an opportunity. WNBA players and media pundits are riding the hysteria to fame.