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Caitlin Clark’s brother has entered the chat.
In the wake of comments made Friday by Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson — who called out TIME magazine over its decision to not recognize the WNBA as a whole in naming the Fever rookie its Athlete of the Year — Colin Clark took to X to re-share a post from Front Office Sports highlighting an attendance record when Indiana visited Washington during the season.
In a post from September, Front Office Sports wrote: “A record 20,711 fans were in attendance for Fever-Mystics tonight—the largest crowd in WNBA history.”
A standout at Iowa, Clark’s popularity at the college level carried over to the pros, drawing new audiences to the sport.
The WNBA had its most-watched regular season in 24 years, coupled with its highest attendance in 22 years, as a star-studded rookie class — headlined by Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Clark and more — helped smash records.
“I’ve been able to captivate so many people that have never watched women’s sports, let alone women’s basketball, and turn them into fans,” Clark told TIME as part of her Athlete of the Year cover story.
In the days following the publication’s nod to Clark, Johnson spoke to CNN and pondered why TIME “couldn’t have put the whole WNBA on that cover.”
“When you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings,” the Mystics co-owner said.
Johnson, who also co-owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals of the NHL, then expanded on other talented stars in the league.
“It has taken the WNBA almost 28 years to get to the point where we are now and this year, something clicked with the WNBA and it’s because of the draft of players that came in. It’s just not Caitlin Clark, it’s [Angel] Reese. We have so much talent out there that has been unrecognized, and I don’t think we can just pin it on one player,” she said.
Reese, whose on-court rivalry with Clark dates back to their college days at LSU and Iowa, respectively, was the seventh overall pick by the Chicago Sky in this year’s draft.
She and Clark were both named WNBA All-Stars this past season, as well as to this year’s All-Rookie Team.
Reese’s Sky teammate, Kamilla Cardoso, also made the 2024 All-Rookie Team, as well as Rickea Jackson of the Sparks and Leonie Fiebich of the Liberty.
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