Caitlin Clark has faced a huge amount of backlash and controversy in the past weeks, mainly due to some of the statements she made in her TIME interview for being the 2024 Athlete of The Year. While some had a lot of negative comments to throw her way, some people are out to stand by her side, such as Indiana Fever COO and general manager Amber Cox.
In a podcast interview where she appeared in, Cox addressed the words give out by Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson, who downplayed Caitlin Clark’s achievements and accolades, saying the entire league should be named “league of the year.”
“Sports to me is generational,” Cox said. “We’ve been at this not very long, less than 30 years. We’ve been through like one generation, so we’re still growing in that regard. What Caitlin Clark did, [was] because so many eyeballs were on her. She is a huge multiplier effect of that. Because she has so many fans and you saw it across arenas: people are moving games. Because so many people wanted to see her play.”
Indiana Fever COO and GM @AmberLCox on @CaitlinClark22 being named @TIME Athlete of the Year:
“We’ve never seen anything like Caitlin Clark.”
🔗: Full episode available now:https://t.co/km6U3sUZfx pic.twitter.com/iOgDe8TwGa
— In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams (@ICYMIwithKW) December 20, 2024
Cox then highlighted that while other players in her draft year also deserve recognition, Caitlin Clark’s contribution and effect was something on an entirely different level.
“I don’t take anything away from other players that brought more eyeballs, Angel (Reese) [and] Cameron (Brink),” Cox continued. “The identity and how much brand recognition these players now have in college, absolutely helped the WNBA. But we’ve never seen anything like Caitlin Clark.”
With all these things considered, Cox believes Caitlin Clark deserves recognition as the Athlete of The Year.
“I think Caitlin Clark deserves that award. Through the years, dating back to the beginning of the league, there have been incredible players. Incredible basketball, we all know that. There have been great people working on the front office side as well, trying to build the foundation, build the fandom around it.”
Caitlin Clark Has “kissed The Woke Ring”?
With Caitlin Clark’s statement on “white privilege” and her call to “elevate black women” of the WNBA, some people have dubbed her as someone who has “gone full woke,” one of them being TV commentator Tomi Lahren.
”Once you bend a knee to the woke mob, you might as well become a human pretzel because it’ll never be enough,” Lahren said in one episode of her program. “Caitlin Clark will learn that one day. But until then, she’ll keep kissing the woke ring in the hopes the mob will like her, they never will.”
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.