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Mystics Owner Sheila Johnson Wanted Entire WNBA on Caitlin Clark’s TIME Cover

Stephen Douglas

Mystics owner Sheila Johnson on CNN.
Mystics owner Sheila Johnson on CNN. / CNN
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The end of the year means that it is time for Caitlin Clark to collect a whole new round of awards and honors. One of those is being named TIME Athlete of the Year, which came with the revelation that she received another honor—an invitation to attend a Kansas City Chiefs game with Taylor Swift.

On Friday morning Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson joined CNN to discuss Clark and the state of the league. Johnson told anchor Amanda Davies that Clark is receiving too much attention for her role in the league's ascension and thought the entire league should have been on the cover of TIME.

"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 the players that came in," said Johnson. "It's just not Caitlin Clark. It's Reese. We have so much talent out there that has been unrecognized. And I don't think we can pin it on just one player."

"I want to be very diplomatic about this," Johnson continued. "It's just the structure of the way media plays out race. I'm going to be very honest. I feel really bad because I've seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition they should have. And I think that right now it is time for that to happen."

"So last night TIME Magazine with Caitlin Clark is named Athlete of the Year," said Johnson. "Why couldn't they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said the WNBA is the league of the year? Because of all the talent that we have. Because when we just keep singling out one player it creates hard feelings. And so now you're starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA and I don't want to hear that. We have got to operate and become stronger as a league and respect everybody that's playing and their talents."

Johnson, the co-founder of BET, is now the vice chairman and partner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment which operates the Mystics, Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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