Shannon Sharpe had an impassioned rant about how different commentators at ESPN minimized the influence Caitlin Clark was having on the WNBA early in her rookie season.
Sharpe was showing on his customary Monday “First Take” co-host spot, and was talking with Stephen A. Smith and Andraya Carter.
“Quite a lot of this noise got here by those that have been sitting on this community,” Sharpe informed his fellow panelists. “They tried to reduce her saying, ‘Effectively you giving her all this credit score, what in regards to the ladies that got here earlier than her?’ What the ladies got here earlier than her, what they did can’t be taken away. That ain’t acquired nothing to do with Caitlin Clark. However there may be lots of people that attempted to verify they hold Caitlin Clark in her place as a result of what you’re doing in the event you give her all this shine, you decrease what they achieved. You possibly can’t decrease Maya Moore or Candace Parker or Lisa Leslie or Lauren Jackson or Diana Taurasi or any of the opposite nice gamers.”
Sharpe didn’t identify names of who he was speaking about at ESPN.
Earlier within the season, Carter was one of many ESPN ladies’s basketball analysts who sought to pump the breaks on praising Clark.
When the Fever and Sky — that includes Clark’s rival, Angel Reese — have been each struggling out of the gate however their video games towards one another drew outsized consideration, Carter mentioned, “I take pleasure in watching these two making an attempt to have success within the W. But when we’re being utterly trustworthy, their groups are having a mid-off proper now. Their groups are simply very mid. They’re eight and ninth within the WNBA standings.”
In his “First Take” rant on Monday, Sharpe talked about the entire publicity Clark dropped at the WNBA.
“Caitlin Clark, what she’s doing, doesn’t decrease what they’ve achieved,” he continued.
“However we must always’ve been giving her the credit score. We noticed the rankings, we noticed the merchandise gross sales, we noticed the attendance, however y’all need to make it about one thing else. … Caitlin Clark is field workplace. She’s doing this. And as an alternative of giving her credit score, y’all making an attempt to make it about, ‘Oh y’all poo-poo’ing the outdated guard. Y’all by no means talked in regards to the outdated guard like this.’ Nah, I ain’t gonna let it slide.”
Video games that includes Clark and the Fever this season almost doubled all different matchups in attendance and almost tripled different video games in TV viewership.
The Fever are down 1-0 of their best-of-three playoff collection towards the Solar, with Sport 2 taking place on Wednesday night time at Mohegan Solar Enviornment.