The cloud of media negativity that has surrounded Caitlin Clark during her WNBA career is rooted in jealousy, according to NBA great Charles Barkley.
“These ladies — and I’m a WNBA fan — they cannot have f***ed this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried,” Barkley said in a video clip from The Bill Simmons Podcast posted to social media platform X.
“People believe what we say on television. Just because people don’t like you or your personality, they can’t get on TV and slander you. It’s just total bulls***,” he said Wednesday.
Barkley said petty jealousy was at the root of the reaction to Clark. He did not name names, but the comment came after WNBA commentator Sheryl Swoopes had been taking flak for her apparent anti-Clark attitude.
“They cannot have f—ed this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried.”
Charles Barkley sounds off against some of the WNBA media’s negative narratives that have surrounded Caitlin Clark this season.@BillSimmons pic.twitter.com/GrWbY5xiB4
— The Ringer (@ringer) September 4, 2024
“This girl is incredible. The number of attention, eyeballs, she’s brought to college and the pros, and for these women to have this petty jealousness,” he said.
“You’re saying to yourself, ‘Damn, what is going on here?’ And the thing I love about her, she never says a word. But these ladies, who I love and respect their game, they couldn’t have f***ed this thing up any worse. There’s been so much negativity and a lot of it is just petty jealousness,” he said.
“If you got people in a room, a bunch of dudes in a room, we couldn’t have came up with a masterplan with what these women have done,” he said, according to the New York Post.
During the interview, Barkley said Clark took time to make the transition from college to the WNBA.
“She’s playing much faster, much faster. She was playing too slow the first half of the season … When I watched her play the last month, I think she’s playing much faster, because she’s learning to trust those girls more,” he said.
New day, new record ????
With her 10th assist of the night, Caitlin Clark passes Ticha Penicheiro for the most 10+ AST games by a rookie in WNBA history with 9!#WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/ETb6gYXAqT
— WNBA (@WNBA) August 31, 2024
“When she’s in college she’s not playing with a lot of great players. Now, when you see her play, she’s playing without the ball. It reminded me a lot of Jason Kidd. He was the best I’ve seen playing without the basketball,” he said.
On Tuesday, Clark’s Indiana Fever, which began the year 1-8, qualified for the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016, according to ESPN.
Clark said she wants more, according to Sports Illustrated.
Caitlin Clark, if she was up at midnight watching for the clinch: “I stay up late, so it’s not really unusual. But yeah, I was up I did see it.”
“My reaction was I turned (off the TV) and went to sleep. I didn’t even check my phone until the next morning.”
Full: pic.twitter.com/tcJoYjrtHf
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) September 4, 2024
“I came in with the expectation that this is what’s gonna happen. For me like this isn’t a party … I feel like it’s a great accomplishment but … I’m not just happy to be in the playoffs. I think we have the type of team that can win and advance,” she said.
“[T]here’s still so much more on the table that we can do,” Clark said.