WNBA needs ‘the charity of men’ without Caitlin Clark, says Jason Whitlock as the league sheds TV viewers after her season ended

Jason Whitlock has claimed the WNBA is still reliant on the NBA and ‘charity of men’ after TV viewing figures for the playoffs plummeted following Caitlin Clark’s exit.

Clark’s rookie season came to an end when the Indiana Fever suffered a second straight defeat at the Connecticut Sun last Wednesday, a result which dumped them out of the playoffs in the very first round.

A record WNBA audience of 2.54 million tuned in to watch the 22-year-old’s season draw to a close, while a previous record of 1.84 million watched the first game of the series on September 22.

Yet with Indiana no longer in the competition, the first weekend of WNBA playoff games without Clark failed to drum up the same interest.

The first semifinal showdown between the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces – two of the league’s most popular and successful teams – drew an audience of just 929,000, according to ESPN (via Fox News).

Jason Whitlock has claimed the WNBA is still reliant on the NBA and ‘charity of men’

WNBA TV viewing figures for the playoffs have plummeted following Caitlin Clark’s exit

Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun’s semifinal had an audience of roughly 650,000.

That has led Whitlock to insist the league’s success is solely reliant on Clark and there must be a mentality change among her rivals.

He said: ‘They are flying around on private jets while losing $50million a year.

‘Living off the charity of the NBA. They can’t draw attendance or television ratings without one woman (Clark).

‘Living off the charity of men but want to convince you that “oh, if you only knew how hard it was for me”.

‘This is insanity. The twice as hard mentality must stop.’

Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark has led to an explosion in the WNBA’s popularity this season

It comes a day after Whitlock slammed WNBA legend Sue Bird, calling her an ‘attention whore’ following comments she made to partner Megan Rapinoe on their podcast.

During their conversation Bird insisted racism was impacting the WNBA ‘well before this year’ and that the basketball skills of players in her era were often overlooked, just as she claims they are now.

It was in the same episode that former USWNT soccer star Rapinoe blasted the ‘racist’ question at the heart of USA Today columnist Christine Brennan’s ongoing war with the WNBA players’ union.

In response to Bird, Whitlock insisted she and other former players don’t actually ‘want to talk about basketball’ and that her generation was overlooked because they weren’t very good.

He also accused them of only talking about racism and sexism during their careers to draw attention to themselves and that the WNBA used to be ‘a drag show’ with players ‘doing an impersonation of men’.