White vs Black. While it may be a huge controversial point to bring up in any sport, especially in basketball where black athletes dominate the leagues, it continues to come up. But is the Caitlin Clark effect really taking over the WNBA? After the Fever’s stellar rookie had troubles at the Dallas airport, the league announced their plan to introduce charter planes for the players. However, when a similar situation occurred with the Mercury great Brittney Griner and the rest of her teammates, the resulting steps were something else.
Sharing her views, Becky Hammon of the Aces said, “Look at the end of the day, this is something that this league has been pushing for a long time for its players. It’s here. I’m happy it’s here. That’s how I look at it.”
Continuing, she said, “We could put a better product out there. And at the end of the day, we’re part of that growth. It’s obviously Caitlin is kind of her own storm, if you will, that got this wheel moving. But there’s been plenty of people before that have laid the groundwork for this actually be up and running.”
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JUST IN: #CaitlinClark has arrived in Dallas ahead of her WNBA debut against the @DallasWings!
She and fellow @IndianaFever players were seen leaving @DFWAirport moments ago.
They play the Wings in a friendly pre-season matchup tomorrow night!
(@wfaa) pic.twitter.com/pXXQFV4gVk
— Matt Howerton (@HowertonNews) May 2, 2024
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However, the reputed coach also mentioned that she is white and would not want to say anything about others. Nevertheless, in her experience, she has not witnessed anything like racial discrimination throughout her illustrious career.
Later, Hammon went on and opened up more on the Brittney Griner incident and what transpired next.
Becky Hammon clears the air on the Caitlin Clark vs Brittney Griner debate
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The back-to-back WNBA championship-winning coach added further details regarding the league’s decisions after Brittney Griner and some of the other players were harassed at the Dallas airport. Hammon said, “I think the thing with Brittney too though was they offered her and she chose to stay with her teammates. This says a lot about her also. I could be wrong, but I think she was given the option to fly separately, and she decided she wanted to be with her teammates.”
Clearly, the timing of the decision is laying the grounds for such related controversies. Come what may, the safety of the players should be the top priority for the league. Moreover, harassment of any sort should be a matter of concern. The solution needs to be quick and efficient. What do you think the solution should be to prevent such incidents in the future?