Indiana Fever star and WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark was recently hailed TIME Magazine’s Athlete of The Year. Fans were delighted and people were happy for Clark, but some people raised questions about her eligibility for the award.
In a recent episode of the “Gil’s Arena” podcast with Gilbert Arenas and co-host Josiah Johnson, former WNBA player and six-time WNBA All-Star Sherly Swoopes expressed her doubts and reservations on the award given to Caitlin Clark.
“I don’t think I’m surprised,” Swoopes said. “I’m curious to know who the other candidates were, but the fact that that’s the very first WNBA player to ever win TIME Magazine Athlete of the Year is pretty special.”
“My question is, the criteria, is it based off of her performance on the court, which she had a great year or is it more about the impact that she had on the game this season?”
Clark was the first WNBA player to be given the TIME Magazine award, and the first solo woman athlete as well. The first receiver of the award in 2019 was the United States Women’s National Soccer Team. Following that, TIME awarded the title to LeBron James (2020), Simone Biles (2021), Aaron Judge (2022), and Lionel Messi (2023).
Fans did not like how Swoopes seemingly downplayed Clark and the award given to her, and Swoopes got blasted on by fans on social media.
“This is utterly embarrassing on behalf [of Swoopes] and Gil. Envy is an ugly thing,” one fan posted.
This is utterly embarrassing on behalf on SS and Gil. Envy is an ugly thing
— Kevin Bernal (@Kevin_Bernal92) December 11, 2024
“Man, I try and give SS the benefit of the doubt but [f] her at this point,” another quipped.
Caitlin Clark Talks About “Privilege” and Elevating Black Women in The WNBA
In her interview with TIME, Caitlin Clark touched on the topic of her rise to stardom and admitted how she felt like her race played a factor in all the recognition she received.
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” she said. “A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them.”
Still, Clark is determined to change the norm and be an instrument to call for the league to “elevate” black women more than ever,
“I have to continue to try to change that,” she added. “The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Right now, Caitlin Clark is taking her time off the court until the WNBA returns for the 2025 season.
For more sports content:
Follow us @HardwoodHeroics for your NBA and college basketball reading fix. You can reach out to Dan Agulto through email at papadanph@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
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.
