Caitlin Clark and her early going as a rookie has been the biggest story in basketball recently. Things reached their peak when Chennedy Carter committed a hard foul on Clark, something the Indiana Fever star said was “not a basketball play.”
Ahead of Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Adam Silver was asked about the play. Despite admitting rookies can be on the receiving end of some rough moments from veterans, Silver wants to see Clark treated just like everybody else in the WNBA.
He also gave Clark credit, believing she can stand up for herself when these moments inevitably occur.
“It’s nothing new in basketball,” Silver said. “There’s, sort of, ‘Welcome to the league’ moments. Especially for heralded rookies. But of course, I want to see Caitlin treated fairly and appropriately in the league. She seems like she can take care of herself, she’s a tough player.”
Clark is just 11 games into her professional career have a decorated one in college. Iowa was able to make back-to-back national championship game appearances, being the height of the program. Plenty of individual honors have been sent Clark’s way as well.
The on-court performances have not been as great. She is averaging 15.6 points per game but shooting just 35.7% from the field and under 30% from behind the three-point line. Elsewhere, Clark has an average of 5.1 rebounds and 6.4 rebounds per game.
With Clark’s emergence, the popularity of the WNBA has never been bigger. Alongside stars such as Cameron Brink and Angel Reese, the star power is reaching an all-time high.
Although, the controversy surrounding Clark has helped the league in a big way. Silver ultimately believes everything involved with Clark is “healthy” for the WNBA as it continues to trend in the right direction.
“Ultimately, I think this is very healthy for women’s basketball and the WNBA,” Silver said. “It’s generating a tremendous additional interest.
“In fairness to the other players and in fairness to (WNBA) Commissioner (Cathy) Engelbert, this just didn’t start this year. Certainly, we’re seeing an acceleration of it with Caitlin. But many individual stars within the league.”
We will see Clark and Indiana face off against Carter and Chicago again in the near future, with another matchup scheduled for June 16. Plenty of storylines will be written heading into them, all of which Silver says is a positive thing for the league.
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