Caitlin Clark would rather focus on basketball.
The star WNBA rookie has been at the center of a surge of discussions around the league this week after she suffered a hard foul from Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter in the Fever’s nail-biting 71-70 victory last Saturday.
Pundits, coaches and even a politician have weighed in on the foul — which was upgraded to a flagrant 1 by the league — and the physical play Clark has faced in the midst of her rookie season.
“Sometimes it stinks how much the conversation is outside of basketball and not the product on the floor and the amazing players that are on the floor and how good they are for their teams and how great this season has been for women’s basketball,” Clark told USA Today ahead of Friday’s game against the Mystics.
The ongoing conversation about the WNBA’s popularity — which has surged since Clark’s arrival as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft — has come to involve media, race and more topics that aren’t confined to the game on the court.
“I’m not on social media so I don’t see a lot of it but you would be surprised,” she said. “I still have my TV on in my house and I’m watching sports, you’re still aware of it and you still see it. Other than that, my focus is basketball.
“But, yeah, I try to block it out. I don’t have social media on my phone, I don’t go on it, I don’t see a lot of it. But I don’t really think it’s that different from when I was in college. Everybody is going to have their opinion, everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and that’s just what it is. I think you’ve just got to be focused on what’s in your locker room, what’s in your organization, how your teammates feel, how your coaches feel, and for me that’s my focus but also I have a job to do at the same time so that’s where my focus remains.”
The Fever enter Friday’s game at 2-9, and they follow that up with a game against the Sun on Saturday, with Clark struggling to find the same success at the pro level that made her the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer during a standout career at Iowa.
“I’ve come into this league and I’m trying to learn as much as I can too,” she said. “I’m 22 years old and there’s a lot of expectations on my shoulders and I feel like I’ve grown a lot and I’m going to continue to grow and it’s been a great learning period for myself and allowing myself a lot of grace at times is really hard because I’m a perfectionist and I want to be really good for our organization, for my teammates.”