With the WNBA playoffs commencing yesterday, this should be a defining moment for the league. However, there’s an issue: Caitlin Clark, the standout player in women’s basketball, finds herself in street clothes on the sidelines as she has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a groin injury.
Although Clark’s Indiana Fever managed to secure a playoff spot in her absence, they fell short in their opening game against the Atlanta Dream, losing 80-68. They now face elimination, needing to win two consecutive games without their star player.
Olden Polynice discussed this topic on the latest episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break. During a conversation primarily about WNBA players advocating for higher pay, he briefly shifted focus to emphasize that the league should better appreciate what they have with Clark and take greater measures to protect her.
Polynice said: “You don’t even take care of your own,”“You had the golden egg, and you still do, but yet you clown. Caitlin Clark is your golden egg.”
“You gotta use that to your advantage,”“People clown and talked about, ‘Well, they had the Jordan rules, and the league changed.’” Yeah, because they knew what was going on.”
“We need to protect our cash cow,”“We need to make sure that [Jordan] brings in the revenue.”
Polynice mentioned that in her inaugural season, the schedule had Clark facing the two strongest defenses in the league, which didn’t set her up for a promising start.
In her debut, Clark scored 20 points but turned the ball over 10 times in a 21-point defeat against the Connecticut Sun. Her subsequent games were against the New York Liberty, a team that would later capture the championship that year. It was no surprise that both of those matchups ended in heavy losses for the Fever, particularly the second one, which the Liberty won by a score of 102-66.
The post Ex-Clippers Center Critiques the WNBA for Failing to Safeguard Caitlin Clark appeared first on BlackSportsOnline.