Women's Fastbreak On SI

NBA Legends Blast WNBA For 'Reprehensible' Caitlin Clark Conduct

Two NBA legends are not happy with how Caitlin Clark has been welcomed into the WNBA this season.

Grant Young

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) walks down the court Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx at Gainbride Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Lynx defeated the Fever, 99-88.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) walks down the court Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx at Gainbride Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Lynx defeated the Fever, 99-88. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

There's no question that Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has been subject to a lot of physical play during her first WNBA season.

This is proven by her receiving five flagrant fouls committed against her this season, which accounts for nearly 17% of all the flagrant fouls committed in the entire league this season, per acrossthetimeline.com.

While a few of these fouls didn't have any malicious intent, some of them certainly did. And that flagrant foul tally doesn't include some of the other hard fouls and unnecessarily forceful screens the 22-year-old has faced.

It's worth noting that the league's veterans have mostly appeared to embrace Clark and toned down their physicality toward her by now when compared to earlier in the season. But that didn't keep NBA legends Rick Barry and George “Iceman” Gervin from calling WNBA players out for their treatment of the rookie in an episode of the 'Krause House' podcast.

"I think it's reprehensible what they're allowing some of these players to... anybody that is doing something flagrant to this young lady for what she's brought to the game should be suspended and fined big time for doing that," Barry said.

Barry won an NBA Championship and NBA Finals MVP in 1975. He's an eight-time NBA All-Star, five-time All-NBA First Team honoree, a Basketball Hall of Famer, and one of the league's most prolific scorers.

"They don't know the value that she's bringing for all of them... they're flying private planes now," Gervin added. "As good as the [Las Vegas] Aces is, they still couldn't bring what [Clark] is bringing to the game."

Gervin is a nine-time NBA All-Star and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

Clearly these two legends of the game took exception to how Clark was welcomed into the WNBA earlier this year.

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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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