Long before she stepped on a WNBA court, fans and members of the media had already anointed Caitlin Clark as the face of the game.
Her media pull was undeniable, and she deserves plenty of credit for drawing hundreds of thousands of eyeballs to women’s basketball. Nevertheless, she’s just starting her journey, and she hasn’t earned her stripes as one of the league’s legends.
That’s why Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took offense to Congressman August Pfluger’s letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, in which he claimed Clark was “the face of the WNBA.”
In a recent Substack post, Abdul-Jabbar claimed it was disrespectful to other greats.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pumps the brakes on Caitlin Clark hype
“My first reaction to this letter was to check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t April Fools’ Day,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “Don’t get me wrong: Clark is a very good, possibly even a great, player. But calling any one player the face of the league, absent the sort of on-court and cross-platform dominance of a Michael Jordan or a LeBron James, is an insult to an awful lot of great players.”
Clark’s sharpshooting and playmaking skills are top-tier, but she hasn’t won anything in the league yet. Moreover, veteran stars like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray and Alyssa Thomas also deserve praise and recognition for what they’ve accomplished.
Clark has been as polarizing as she’s been good for business, and there’s a strong chance that she will go down as one of the all-time greats. For now, however, all that rush to crown her might be one of the reasons she may not be as popular among her colleagues.