Stephen A. Smith Forcefully Defends Caitlin Clark Amid Resentment of Her WNBA Assist
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark's comments about using her privilege to "elevate Black women" in basketball from a December 11 Time feature article have been the talk of the basketball world for the past week, with people both criticizing and praising Clark for her comments.
Sports media juggernaut Stephen A. Smith initially focused on Clark winning Time Athlete of the Year for 2024 during an episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show". He then followed this up by embarking on a long tirade about the backlash about her interview comments on a December 15 segment of his show.
“You see why I have no problem with her being Time’s Athlete of the Year?” Smith said after reading Clark's full quote from the Time article. “You see why I said she should’ve been on Team USA? You see why I had to go off on the likes of Sheryl Swoopes — and others — who were clearly distant and dismissive of her, no matter how much they tried to deny it?
"There was resentment toward her, and here’s why I said it was stupid: Because when she came into the WNBA for 22-plus years, they had been flying commercial, they were begging for chartered flights. She arrives there and two weeks later, [the WNBA] got chartered flights," he added
"Things are on an upward trending trajectory, it’s improving, and... she’s directly responsible," he continued. “And people are resenting her for it like she was the cause of the problems they had for the lack of recognition. No — she just happened to be born white. That’s it. Caitlin Clark hasn’t spoken against anybody. She hasn’t assisted in denying anybody else the privileges they deserve.
"If anything, she’s tried to provide assistance... she’s trying to be a rising tide that lifts the boats. And there were sisters resentful against her. Be resentful against the system! Be resentful of the folks (primarily the White folks) who basically disenfranchised y’all all these years before she came along, who denied you the acclaim and the allure and the profits you richly deserved!
"But you don't take that out on Caitlin Clark, not her!" Smith said. "She's the one that assists you!"
Smith concluded his sentiment by saying, "It still seems like people are slow-rolling their way to a form of progressive thinking that enables them to appreciate the Caitlin Clark's of the world instead of resenting her.
"Which means, as always, no matter how far we’ve come, we still have a ways to go.”
Those are powerful, thought-provoking words from Smith.
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.