Terrible job.
Charles Barkley is railing against the way some in and around the WNBA treated Caitlin Clark this season as she has emerged as the biggest name in women’s basketball.
Clark, while starring at Iowa in college and now for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA, has brought unprecedented attention to the sport.
However, in Barkley’s view, not everyone has gotten behind the Clark money train the way they should.
Caitlin Clark has been a hot-button issue as she has brought unprecedented popularity to women’s basketball. AP
“These ladies, and I am a WNBA fan, they cannot have f—ked this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried,” Barkley said on The Ringer’s “Bill Simmons Podcast” this week.
“If you got people in a room, a bunch of dudes in a room, we couldn’t have came up with a masterplan with what these women have done. This girl is incredible. What she did in college for women’s basketball, what she’s doing in the WNBA… The number of eyeballs she brought from the college to the pros and these women to have this petty jealousness, you say to yourself, ‘What is going on here?’”
Barkley did not specifically delve into who was being petty and jealous, though there are certainly some suspects out there.
Clark has been on the wrong end of some hard fouls by WNBA veterans in her rookie season, including a shove by the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter.
WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes has been the most prominent name questioning Clark among those in the media, which has led to an ongoing feud with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
Charles Barkley criticized those around the WNBA for how they treated Caitlin Clark. The Ringer/X
There has also been a long-running debate as to whether Clark or Angel Reese, who has broken double-double records for the Sky, deserves to be Rookie of the Year.
Clark has improved all season long and the Fever, who clinched a playoff spot on Tuesday night, are now 17-16 after a 1-8 start.
Clark has been particularly devastating for opponents since the month-long Olympic break, averaging 24.8 points and nine assists per game as the Fever have won six of seven.
Caitlin Clark and the Fever have now clinched a playoff spot. Getty Images
“The stuff about her is petty and jealous,” Barkley said. “The thing I love about her, she never says a word… She’s playing much faster, much faster. She was playing too slow the first half of the season… When I watched her play the last month I think she’s playing much faster because she’s learning to trust those girls more.
“When she’s in college she’s not playing with a lot of great players. Now when you see her play, she’s playing without the ball. It reminded me a lot of Jason Kidd. He was the best I’ve seen playing without the basketball… There’s been so much negativity and a lot of it is just petty jealousness.”
Caitlin Clark during a win over the Dallas Wings on Sept. 1, 2024. Getty Images
It’s not the first time Barkley has raged against how Clark is being welcomed to the league, as the NBA Hall of Famer made similar comments during the Western Conference Finals.
At the time, Sparks forward Dearica Hamby responded “Seriously…. wtf are you talking about….” in a post on X.
