Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has an argument as the biggest sports star in the United States at the moment. Since entering the WBNA, Clark has helped catapult the league to record television viewership and attendance numbers.
However, many fans have noticed that Clark doesn’t get the beneficial whistle from referees that many star players do, and that, in fact, referees seem to be negatively polarized against her.
Fans aren’t the only ones taking note of such things either. WNBA analyst Rebecca Lobo made note of what she noted to be several uncalled fouls against the Fever point guard in Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the Fever and Dallas Wings.
“There’s a grab. There’s a hold. There’s another grab. I mean,” Lobo said.
“All of those are fouls,” the play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco responded.
“All of those are fouls!” Lobo concurred. “Every single one of them. And here, that’s a foul. That’s a foul. And finally they call [the shooting foul].”
Fans reacted to the news on social media.
“WNBA ‘physicality’ and ‘great defense’ is such a joke that even the commentators are calling it out on national tv as they should,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Probably next season but eventually the whistle will swing in her favor & the adjustment period for the league is going to produce some stupid statline Like 52pts with 19/20 from FT line,” one fan predicted.
“She’s not getting the calls cuz she uses her off hand to create contact lol it’s even shown in this video. They don’t call the WNBA the same as the NBA they let them play but now folks want it to change cuz Clark is in the league. It’s been like that,” someone else added.
It’ll be interesting to see if the referees alter the way they call contact against Clark this season.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.