WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones Refuses to Label Caitlin Clark and Fever Fans
After the 2024 WNBA playoffs series between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun ended, Sun star forward Alyssa Thomas called out the hate that she and her teammates received from the Fever fanbase, which she seemed to believe has intensified with the arrival of Caitlin Clark and her massive fanbase to Indiana.
Alyssa Thomas called out the hate that Sun players have faced from the Fever fanbase, saying she’s never experienced these type of racial comments before:
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) September 26, 2024
“It’s uncalled for, and something needs to be done, whether it’s them checking their fans, or the league.” pic.twitter.com/qpqhkThW1p
This prompted a lot of discussion around the women's basketball community, with a common question being whether this hate is actually coming from Clark/Fever fans, or whether it's merely "trolls" as Clark asserted.
And WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones delivered her stance on this sentiment during her recent appearance on "The Pivot Podcast" with Ryan Clark.
"I think a lot of the fans, the Caitlin Clark fans, I think they wanted to latch on to Caitlin Clark and then use her as... this fuel to be able to be the way that they wanted to be," Jones said on the podcast. "And I think that's why there was such big backlash when she liked the whole Taylor Swift post saying vote for Kamala Harris because they want her to be the representation of their racism and their view on the world, and she's not like that.
"And I think you have to be careful when you say the Fever fans because I don't think it's the Fever fans," Jones continued. "I think it's people that wanted Caitlin Clark to be a certain type of way, and they thought that she was, and so they became Caitlin Clark fans assuming that. And now they realized 'Oh no, she's actually not racist.' And so no they have to backtrack, and try to find somebody else that can kind of embody the things that they feel."
Jonquel asked about Fever fans
— correlation (@nosyone4) November 2, 2024
"I don't think it's the Fever fans. I think It's the people that wanted Caitlin Clark to be a certain type of way and they thought that she was. So they became Caitlin Clark fans assuming that. And then they realized oh she's actually not racist." pic.twitter.com/ztQ2qSFDfe
It will be interesting to see what the response to Jones' comments is within the women's basketball community.
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.