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WNBA champion Natasha Cloud took aim at the sport’s new fans who were critical of fouls committed against Caitlin Clark last season.
During an interview on the “Pivot Podcast” with Ryan Clark, Cloud weighed in on the debate that rocked the WNBA last year when several illegal hits against Clark prompted outrage from many of her fans.
Cloud, who said she lost a tooth from a hit earlier in her career, insisted the outrage on behalf of Clark was rooted in “racism.”
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Natasha Cloud of the Phoenix Mercury during a game against the Indiana Fever June 30, 2024, at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
“It’s just a part of the game. There was no targeting, there was no nothing. That narrative that got spun into, ‘Oh, the vets hate the rookies. The rookies hate the vets. The vets are going after certain players,’ it’s all bulls—. If I’m just going to be frank, it’s all bulls—. What it is is racism,” Cloud said.
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Clark took an infamous illegal hip check from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter June 1. Fellow Sky player and Clark’s archrival, Angel Reese, struck Clark in the head with her arm while trying to block a pass during a game June 16. On Aug. 31, another Sky player, Diamond DeShields, sent Clark flying across the floor for a foul that was later upgraded to flagrant.
In Clark’s first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun Sept. 22, Sun player DiJonai Carrington gave Clark a black eye by poking her with her fingernails.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts to a foul in the first quarter during Game 1 of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., Sept. 22, 2024. (Mark Smith/Imagn Images)
“It gets blown up into, ‘Oh, they’re going after Caitlin Clark.’ But, no, we’re just playing one of the best players that’s in this league the way that any other best player or franchise player has been played,” Cloud said.
Earlier in the interview, Cloud addressed the increase in fans of the WNBA and suggested their interest was not rooted in fandom.
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“The craziness that came with the new fandom was rooted in something other than fandom, and I think that was very evident across the board,” Cloud said. “In a lot of ways, it has not been about basketball.”
Cloud is not the first WNBA player or former player to suggest some of Clark’s followers are racist.
Caitlin Clark (22) of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese (5) of the Chicago Sky during a game June 1, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
Reese said in the first episode of her podcast “there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it” regarding the motivation of Clark’s fans. WNBA legend Sue Bird lashed out at this group in her podcast in November, claiming some of them aren’t even fans of Clark but are just “acting” as fans while “pushing racist agendas and pushing hate.”
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However, not all prominent women’s basketball players are as dismissive of the controversial fans Clark has brought to the sport.
USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins, who has a chance to break Clark’s NCAA scoring record, previously told Fox News Digital she welcomes all the fans Clark has brought to the sport and hopes they might even root for Watkins.
USC women’s basketball player Juju Watkins before a recent game at Cal St. Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 21, 2023. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“So many new fans being in the sport sometimes can be, not necessarily challenging, but can just kind of give you a headache a bit. Not a lot of people know what they’re talking about sometimes. But it’s great for the sport. The fact that people are watching is enough in itself,” Watkins said.
“We would like it to be positive, but it’s not always going to be like that. So, as long as we continue to raise the numbers and viewership goes up, I think that’s all we can ask for.”
When asked if she wants the sport’s controversial new fans to cheer for her, too, Watkins answered, “Oh yeah. I love supporters, and I also love haters.
“I think that’s just a part of the game. There’s so many sides to it. So, it’s the nature of the game, and there’s always going to be negative and positive aspects of it.”
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