Was there a more obvious pick for Time 2024 Athlete of the Year than Caitlin Clark?
Not only did she break the NCAA scoring record in her final year of college just weeks before going first overall in the WNBA Draft, but she made the WNBA All-Star Team and won the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2024. Her off-the-court accomplishments are arguably just as impressive–in April, she was only the fourth female athlete to make an SNL appearance, and just days later, signed a historic $28 million Nike deal that includes a signature show. Her Time honor is but one on a lengthy list of accomplishments – and Clark is just getting started.
However, Clark’s ascent didn’t come without controversy. Last summer, when asked about some of the racist and sexist vitriol that had been circulating in her name, she replied that the discourse was “not something I can control.” She went on to say, “I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that, and to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it. Basketball is my job. Everything on the outside, I can’t control that, so I’m not going to spend time thinking about that.”
This didn’t impress many in and around the league, including Connecticut Sun guard Dijonai Carrington, who later posted to social media, “How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see the [s—]. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.”
But Clark’s most recent (and arguably her most accomplished interview) hits different, as the kids say. Not only did Clark offer fans perhaps the most candid glimpse into her personality, but she took a hard stance against some of the discourse that has been surrounding her throughout her controversial rookie year. She also implored fans to honor the Black women who made the WNBA what it is today, which she has also done in the past, paying homage to her “basketball hero” Maya Moore throughout her senior year, as well as many other notable Black women from Dawn Staley to Lisa Leslie, whom she credited for laying the foundation for her career, in her SNL segment in April.
To be clear, Caitlin Clark has always, to some extent, understood the context of her being a white woman in a league that is primarily non-white. She’s no Paige Bueckers, but she knows the greats in the league and gives credit where it’s due. But her indifference to the discourse surrounding her rubbed fans the wrong way this past summer. Her recent Time interview tells a different story, and it’s one that the league needed to tell months ago: The WNBA is no place for hate.
The problem with this stance for Caitlin Clark, which might explain her reluctance to embrace it, is that it inevitably involves taking a stand, and that level of off-the-court offense doesn’t fit well with Clark’s brand – even if it’s a necessary line to draw.
Clark spent years cultivating a squeaky-clean image of a “little Iowa girl” who made it big. Her Gatorade ad, which was released during her senior year, hammers home this image with clips of her playing basketball in her youth, speaking to young girls, and of course, shattering records with an unforgettable motivational message to her young fans: “If I can drop 40, you can drop 50.”
It’s a great ad for many reasons, one being that it mirrors Nike’s “If You Let Me Play” ad from 1995, which notably featured girls playing sports while touting the benefits of doing so. Clark’s brand power is undeniable, but her clean persona also doesn’t mesh well with activism – even activism as basic as denouncing racism. The “little Iowa girl” inevitably had to butt heads with her fans – plenty of whom were watching women’s basketball because of her.
The brilliance of Clark’s brand is also its greatest drawback – Clark is a chameleon. Yes, she’s one of the best athletes of her generation, but she’s also just like you and me. She loves Taylor Swift, appreciates a good bargain, and adores her friends like Lexie Hull and Kate Martin (who just so happen to be professional athletes like her).
And of course, anyone can be as good as Clark if they just try hard enough, so her Gatorade ad says. In other words, because of her relatability, Clark can be whoever she needs to be for her fans. Her versatility is what makes her marketability as vast as it is, but it also rendered her fairly vulnerable as a rookie who is also, for better or worse, the face of the still-growing WNBA.
We all witnessed that last season when, because Clark didn’t embrace controversy, people thrust it onto her – and she let it happen by remaining neutral.
It’s more than understandable why Clark would do so – after all, how many college graduates sign a $28 million shoe deal, appear on SNL, then play their first professional basketball game in the span of a month?
Caitlin Clark has been through a lot in the past few years (good and bad), and that much is undeniable. But as Carrington pointed out, it’s also a privilege to ignore the kind of vitriol that surrounds Clark, and it seems Clark has taken note.
Her Time interview shows that she is capable of handling the discourse around her and raises the bar for her tolerance of it. In many ways, it shattered the innocent halo around her, showing Clark’s petty, sassy, foul-mouthed sides. At times, she sounded like a young Diana Taurasi, giving a nod to her “troll” tendencies, her well-earned confidence that borders on cockiness (if she couldn’t back up her talk, that is), and the cutthroat competitiveness that makes her great.
The Time piece referenced the fact that the same “little Iowa girl” that stole America’s hearts with her feel-good home-grown story arc also nearly led the WNBA in technical fouls in 2024 (with 6 on the year, she tied for second–along with Kahleah Copper and, notably, Diana Taurasi).
Importantly, it reminded readers that, while she’s not average, she’s human, while also lauding her lengthy accomplishments. In short, Clark’s most recent interview is also her most real, and it’s more of what the WNBA needs from the face of the league.
It also just might turn off her new “fans” who have used her as a canvas onto which they project their discriminatory values. And if that’s the case, it’s good for the league. What the WNBA needs in times of explosive growth isn’t fair-weathered fans just looking to chase after the next shiny thing in women’s hoops. The WNBA needs loyal, resilient, long-term fans who understand the context of the league. While it’s great that Clark has brought more eyes to the WNBA, the quality of those eyes matters. There’s nothing wrong with the fans who just started watching because of Clark–but ideally, those fans will also notice the greatness around her and wonder why they didn’t start watching sooner.
These same fans might recognize that the W is defined not only by physical play, airtight strategy, and yes, fierce player rivalries, but by the league’s commitment to social justice, political involvement, and activism. The fans who acknowledge and appreciate that aspect of women’s hoops are the ones the league needs most–especially the large portion of WNBA fans who are women, people of color, and LGBTQ. Their safety is directly threatened by the portion of Clark’s fans, however large or small, who attack identities different from theirs. The WNBA isn’t just a sports league–it’s a community and newcomers must respect it. Those who don’t will have a tough time fitting in and might instead opt-out.
In this light, Caitlin Clark might have lost some fans with her latest words…but is that really a bad thing? If the bigots are truly a vocal minority, the WNBA really won’t be down all that bad. And even if they’re not, losing these “fans” is still good for the league–and even better for Clark who deserves better loyalists, as well as the women around her who make the W great.
Watching Clark and her so-called “rivals” like Carrington, Taurasi, and Angel Reese thrive in front of the league’s biggest audience without all the background noise? That’s a win everyone can look forward to in the 2025 season.
