The Caitlin Clark critics saga continues. The Iowa alum has never had a moment of peace since she entered the WNBA. Stats and numbers provide a clear picture of the ‘Caitlin Clark Effect,’ and yet basketball pundits, former players, current ones, all argue that the 22-year-old is getting coddled and over-hyped for no particular reason. Not everyone, though. NFL legend Shannon Sharpe is an ardent admirer of the phenomenal rookie, as is Stephen A. Smith. And the latter wasted no time slamming the naysayers for their supposedly double-stand.

In the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the veteran analyst makes short work of the “pioneers, pundits who used to play in the WNBA, some of them who didn’t and who was speaking on behalf of those who didn’t,” when he calls them out bluntly for trying to change the narrative.

“They act like there isn’t or hasn’t been legitimate resentment … [But] nobody’s fooled here,” Stephen A. stated. The 56-year-old further pointed out that people like himself and Sharpe, who were trying to uplift Clark amidst the hate, were being attacked mercilessly for putting women who were envious, resentful, and jealous of the Indiana rookie, on the stand.

“We talk about it when the men do it! … But when the ladies are feeling that way about another young lady like Caitlin Clark and people like myself and Shay Shay call it out, suddenly it’s a problem! Come on, we can act like we don’t know, but we know,” Smith said.

You don’t need to tell us about the ongoing Sheryl Swoopes drama and the initial ones involving WNBA legends like Lynette Woodard, Breanna Stewart, and more. Or if we are looking for recent examples, there’s the hate she is getting for liking a Taylor Swift post on Kamala Harris.

Of course, Clark’s achievements do not mean that there is a need to overlook the efforts of the women who set the foundation. But the harsh reality of it all is as Stephen A. Smith pointed out. “The bottom line is … the paying customer, the audience did not give a damn about the WNBA for years.”

That is, until a young guard from Iowa started making noise in college, which carried over to the league, which, in turn, brings us to Sharpe’s comments from earlier. 

Stephen A. Smith agrees wholeheartedly with the 3x Super Bowl Champion’s claims about Clark

The 3x Super Bowl Champion blasted those who were trying to downplay Caitlin’s accomplishments on First Take earlier in the day. Stephen A. Smith was also present in the episode and it was exactly this instance that he was talking about above. And what exactly did ‘Unc’ say?

“What the women came before her, what they did cannot be taken away. [However] that ain’t got nothing to do with Caitlin Clark … We saw the ratings. We saw the merchandise sale. We saw the attendance … Caitlin Clark is box office. She’s doing this. And instead of giving her credit, y’all trying to make it about, ‘Oh, y’all poo pooing the old guard…’ Nah, I ain’t gonna let it slide,” Shannon said.

Naturally, this would ruffle a lot of feathers. But we are going to just take a quick look into the business side of matters. To start with, let’s see how the Indiana Fever fared with the arrival of Caitlin Clark. The 2024 mid-season report posted by Chloe Peterson on X shows some crazy numbers! “- jersey sales are up over 1000% – ticket sales up over 250% – league-high 38 national TV games – 10 broadcasts with viewership records.”

But did the surge happen only this far into the year? Absolutely not! Just take the WNBA Draft viewership, for example. Per Sportico, a staggering 2.45 million viewers tuned into the draft night. It was 5 times more than the previous year (512,000) and an insane +307% increase from the last time the WNBA draft night viewership hit a record (601,000) – Diana Taurasi in 2004. You might argue that it also had other top names, like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, etc.

What about the WNBA All-Star Game, then? According to Sportsnaut, the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game averaged 3.4 million viewers on ABC – the most-watched event in league history! Now, just so that we understand how bizarre this number was, we will start small.

• The TV ratings were 300% higher than the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game.
• Tripled the previous league record set in 2003.
• And perhaps, more importantly, it helped the WNBA land a historic TV rights deal worth $2.2 billion over 11 years.

Well … thoughts?