Women's Fastbreak On SI

Fever's NaLyssa Smith Triggers Caitlin Clark Fans With Best WNBA Passer Post

Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith stirred the pot among Caitlin Clark fans on Friday.

Grant Young

Jul 17, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates with Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) during the second half against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Jul 17, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates with Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) during the second half against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith is no stranger to causing controversy among Fever fans on social media.

There were multiple times this season where Smith or someone in Smith's orbit expressed negative sentiment about Smith's playing time or role with Indiana; which is the main reason why we predicted the Fever won't protect Smith in the upcoming WNBA Expansion Draft.

A recent example of this is when Smith's girlfriend (and Connecticut Sun star guard) DiJonai Carrington posted on X, "see what happens when my girl gets some touches 😇" after Smith produced a solid first half in a September 15 game.

Smith responding (in a since-deleted post) with, "fun while it lasted babe 🤣🤣" after the game ended irked Fever fans to no end.

Perhaps Smith simply likes to stir the pot on social media. This seems to be the case after Smith's X post on Friday night.

"who yall think the best passer in the league is," Smith wrote.

Given that Smith's teammate Caitlin Clark is arguably the league's best passer at this point, it didn't take long for Clark's massive fanbase to convey their strong reactions to this.

X user @slowlyslide posted a gif of LeBron James singling a fan out in the stands of an NBA game and tagged new Fever Chief Operating Officer and General Manager, Amber Cox.

X user @Sudharsan_ak posted a photo of Clark resting her head on her palm with the caption, "Everyone falling for the bait".

Another fan posted a video of Clark dishing out a gorgeous pass to Smith during a game and added the caption, "Caitlin Clark and I’d be surprised if you don’t agree".

Smith must have known she was going to ruffle some feathers with this one.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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