For much of the last two years Caitlin Clark was the heart of the college basketball world.
Now, like NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird 45 years ago, Clark finds himself unwillingly at the center of discussions about race and race her transition to professional basketball. Although Clark hasn’t said anything to fuel the black-and-white narrative surrounding her meteoric rise, there are talks of a double standard.
“I think it’s a big deal. I think a lot of people might say it’s not about black and white, but for me it is,” Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson said when asked about the racial element to Clark’s popularity and before her recently signed two major endorsement deals. “It’s really because as a black woman you can be top-notch in who you are, but maybe that’s something people don’t want to see.”
“They don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as black women, we are still swept under the rug. That’s why it boils in my blood when people say it’s not about race, because it is.”
To be clear, Clark is a hard court veteran from Iowa. Bird was a hard-court veteran from Indiana State. And like Bird, Clark captivated audiences and brought unmatched attention to women’s basketball with his ability to score from every corner of the court.
Neither Bird nor Clark were the first great white professional basketball players. Jerry West is the actual NBA logo, and before Clark, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart were among the long list of talented white WNBA players.
But the sport can be enhanced by a heated rivalry, especially when it comes to race.
Clark’s rise was matched by an on-court bravery that made her must-see television as she led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back NCAA Championship game appearances. When Bird led the Sycamores to the 1979 title game, he faced Magic Johnson in one of the most-watched games in NCAA Tournament history.
In Iowa, Clark’s The on-court rival in the NCAA Tournament was former LSU star Angel Reese. Then she faced off against women’s juggernaut South Carolina and coach Dawn Staley. The matchups created the kind of social media moments that captivated audiences regardless of gender.
The encounters also led to ongoing discussions about the role race plays in the treatment of Clark, a white woman on “America’s Heartland,” compared to black colleagues like Reese.
Clark has said she and Reese are just parts of a larger movement.
“I would say Angel and I have always been great competitors,” Clark said before Iowa’s Elite Eight matchup with Reese and LSU in March. “I think Angel would say the same thing, like women’s basketball isn’t just about us. That’s not the only thing that’s competitive about our game, and that’s what makes it so good. We need several people to be really good.”
Still, the racial debate over perceived slights toward black players or favoritism toward Clark won’t go away the No. 1 choice in the WNBA Draft is preparing for its first regular season game on Tuesday night when Indiana plays Connecticut.
“I think it’s brought new fans or maybe returning fans to women’s college basketball. Partly because of Clark. But also, you know, because of the rivalry between LSU and Iowa,” said Victoria Jackson, a sports historian and clinical associate professor of history at Arizona State University.
“There are basketball reasons,” Jackson said, “but there are also racial reasons why Clark was able to reach a completely different stratosphere than the players before her.”
Because of the perceived double standards, almost everything involving Clark is called into question:
– Clark’s first preseason game was streamedHowever, not Reese’s.
– Clark gets an endorsement deal. Other established black stars, not so much.
– If Reese talks trash, it is considered unsportsmanlike. When Clark does it, she’s competitive.
— Reese received some backlash for going to the Met Gala before a game, raise questions Would there have been the same kind of scrutiny if Clark had graced the red carpet?
Wilson, who signed with Gatorade last week and announced Saturday she was getting a Nike signature shoe, and others have cited companies clamoring to work with Clark as an example of the disparity in treatment of players .
Clark’s deal with Nike reportedly calls for $28 million over eight years – the highest-paying endorsement deal for a female basketball player and including a signature shoe. Before Wilson’s announcement on Saturday, Elena Delle Donne, Sabrina Ionescu and Stewart were the WNBA’s only other active players with a signature shoe – all white.
Perception goes beyond endorsements.
While Clark’s preseason debut was available on the WNBA League Pass streaming app, a post from the WNBA was published on the X platform incorrectly stated that all gamesincluding the Chicago Sky debuts of Reese and fellow former rookie Kamilla Cardoso, would also be available.
So, a Fan present The game was broadcast live on Sky. It received more than 620,000 views.
In one (n Apology post explained As for why Sky’s game wasn’t also available, the WNBA said Clark’s game was available as part of a limited free preview of its streaming app.
There have also been racial aspects to the way Clark is treated on social media compared to others, particularly Reese.
Reese, who previously spoke online about the criticism she received, was recently attacked again after she missed a preseason workout to attend the Met Gala. Clark has also been the subject of online criticism, but apparently not to the same extent as Reese.
Online hate speech accounts for about 1 percent of all sports-related social media posts, according to Daniel Kilvington, course leader in media and cultural studies at Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, England.
“While that may sound quite low, consider how much traffic there is online and how many posts are made every day,” said Kilvington, who studies the problem using the sport of football in his work with the Tackling Online Hate in Football research group has. “One percent is therefore 1% too high, as athletes are prime targets for hate speech, harassment and death threats simply for playing a game they love.”
But as Clark’s popularity grows, so does the debate. Jackson believes it’s a good time to discuss it openly.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard and described her as a generational talent,” the ASU professor said. “And whenever we do cases like this, I immediately think: Who are the other generational talents that we had? And I think all too often you could put the athletes in that category who were black women who didn’t get that lavish attention. And especially the kind of crossover saturation among the general public that Caitlin Clark has experienced.
“There are overlapping, overlapping reasons for this. But I think we can’t help but think about it if the goal is to treat athletes equally in this sport.”
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AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson and AP Reporter Corey Williams contributed.