Sue Bird Asserts WNBA's 'Petty' Caitlin Clark Narrative Began With Diana Taurasi
Despite the WNBA Semifinals being underway, much of the discourse surrounding women's basketball over the past week has been about an interview question that USA Today reporter Christine Brennan asked Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington after Carrington poked Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark during a game last week.
The WNBPA came out and criticized Brennan for asking Carrington this question, and the ensuing discourse has added to the season-long narrative about how Clark has allegedly received contempt (both physically and verbally) from WNBA veterans who are reluctant to embrace her massive impact on the unprecedented attention women's basketball has received.
This topic was the first thing women's sports icons Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe discussed during their Wednesday episode of the "A Touch More" podcast.
Bird claimed that viral comments Taurasi made about Clark during an ESPN SportsCenter show from earlier this year started this narrative.
"It started with me and Diana in our show getting interviewed by Scott Van Pelt," Bird said. "And Diana having her response... Scott Van Pelt did ask Diana a question about rookies."
Bird is referring to when SVP asked what the WNBA will have in store when Clark (who was then still an Iowa Hawkeye) arrives, and Taurasi said, "Look SVP... reality is coming. There are levels to this thing... You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds but you're gonna come [play] with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time."
"Once Diana’s comments went viral, it led to the Twitter trolls and bots taking over. What started there was this narrative of petty, jealous players, hating on Caitlin," Bird then said on Wednesday.
"That's really what happened, that's where it started, that we must just dislike her, that we look at her side-eyed, that we don't want her to come into the WNBA and be successful... so we're petty and we're jealous.
"And from there, when we get to the start of the WNBA season, this [narrative] is already planted in people's heads," Bird continued.
Sue Bird discussing the last 5 months in women’s basketball, the narratives surrounding Caitlin Clark and where it all began:
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) October 2, 2024
“In some ways it started with me and Diana and our show, getting interviewed by Scott Van Pelt…. Once Diana’s comments went viral, it led to the… pic.twitter.com/x0adJwBwNK
Bird then discussed how frustrating it was for her because WNBA players were having basketball conversations — which are always worth having — about Clark, Angel Reese, and the other rookies, but the media was turning it into something more.
Bird seemed to nail it on the head with this one.
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.