Ray Hacke: Playing in Clark’s shadow

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. WORLD Opinions Commentator Ray Hacke now…on a new challenge to identity politics in women’s basketball.

RAY HACKE: Caitlin Clark joined the Women’s National Basketball Association to play basketball. She probably didn’t expect to become a lightning rod concerning issues of race and sexuality.

Let’s state the obvious up front: The rookie guard with the Indiana Fever is a white player in a sport largely populated by black athletes. She’s also a heterosexual in a league where nearly 40 percent of the players openly identify as LGBTQ, according to a 2022 study. She’s a devout Catholic. And Clark has a wholesome, distinctly feminine appearance that contrasts with tatted-up players who appear more masculine, such as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner.

She’s also one of the best women to ever play basketball. Clark became NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer, leading the University of Iowa to back-to-back NCAA title games. And she’s now a major reason why the WNBA is garnering more attention than ever before. Attendance at games has soared, television ratings are higher than ever, and fans can now hear hosts of national programs discussing the league regularly.

Understandably, this has created some resentment among players who now find themselves playing in Clark’s shadow. A’ja Wilson, a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time league champion with the Las Vegas Aces, has openly complained that companies seeking to cash in on the WNBA’s newfound popularity see Clark as more marketable than herself because Clark is white. And Clark has been the victim of some rather vicious on-court fouls, leading some in the media to speculate that opposing players are targeting Clark—not just out of jealousy for the attention she’s received, but because of her race and heterosexual identity.

Such speculation has brought back to the surface claims that former WNBA player Candice Wiggins once made. Drafted out of Stanford University by the Minnesota Lynx in 2008, Wiggins spent eight seasons in the league with four different teams before retiring in 2016.

About a year later, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wiggins’ claims that she left the WNBA after years of bullying for being straight and Christian.

In fairness, rookies in any pro sports league should expect less than a warm welcome from their opponents. Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi—one of the WNBA’s all-time greats— warned Clark that she would be in for a rough ride after going to Indiana as the top pick in the WNBA draft back in April.

Clark, to her credit, has taken the high road whenever the media have peppered her with questions about hard fouls she’s taken or nasty comments that have been hurled her way. She may not have a choice: Doing otherwise is all but certain to provoke further retaliation.

Still, whether her opponents like it or not, Clark is the face of the WNBA now. More than any other player in the league, she’s the reason why people are tuning in and buying tickets at an unprecedented rate. And if that trend continues, Clark will be the reason why WNBA teams can afford to pay their players salaries comparable to what their male counterparts in the NBA make.

If Clark’s opponents want to keep the WNBA at the forefront of the national sports conversation, they’d better leave their prejudices outside the arena.

I’m Ray Hacke.

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