This past WNBA season mesmerized the fans with the addition of generational rookies like Caitlin Clark. Coming into the league, the first overall pick, with her presence alone, set the bar at an unprecedented height. Despite the losses, the reigning WNBA ROTY maintained her scoring prowess, posting four 20+ points and a 30-point game in the first 9 games of the season. However, there is another side of her game that was not discussed earlier and has become a hot topic in the offseason aftermath that even Becky Hammon, Las Vegas Aces head coach, spoke about: Caitlin Clark’s trash talk. And UConn’s head coach Geno Auriemma has a take too.

Today, resonating with the same, Auriemma engaged in a discussion with Phil Martelli on the Make A Difference podcast and talked about how Clark’s trash talks have led to the aggressive reception from other players within the league.

He said, “When people talk about in WNBA ‘Why are these people beating up Caitlin Clark?,’ because she talks a lot of sh-t on the court, all right. That’s what makes her good. So she’s not like this. Angel walking out there and everybody else is beating her up.”

While he encouraged it, he also established that Clark is just like his own mentee and talking trash on the court brings out their toughness and some of the best games altogether with a few changes and said, “No, she’s got a lot to say. She’s a lot like Paige (Bueckers), those guys have a lot to say, they just do it subtly and they’re tough. And so, we need more of that and we need more great games, we need more better games, we need more rules modifications.”

There are a lot of things Caitlin Clark does when she’s on the floor to lock everyone’s eyes on herself. Her logo-3s and impeccable passes are just the beginning. Apart from these, she understands the showmanship of it all and is more than ready to get the fans involved in the games by asking them to cheer louder. This passion, however, also extends into intense verbal conversations with the officials and the opponents.

In fact, Lisa Bluder once revealed that she would call technical fouls on the No. 22 during practices just to keep her emotions in check. Still, nothing has budged on the Des Moines native’s passion and that is exactly what connects her with the people. Something like this is what Paige Bueckers of UConn does as well.

However, this is not the first time a basketball coach has talked about the ‘Iowa sensation’ on-court trash-talking.

When Caitlin Clark’s trash talk became popular among WNBA coaches

Throughout the season, Clark encountered some unwelcomed encounters like getting shoved and body-checked by other players in the league. The reason behind all that beating has turned out to be her trash talk, which is considered a part of the game. In fact, Chennedy Carter shoulder-checking the then-Fever rookie in Chicago Sky’s first encounter with the Indiana Fever too hinted at some give-and-take of words between the two guards that led to the Flagant-1 being called on Carter.

Earlier in the 2024 WNBA season, Clark’s trash-talking abilities were discussed by the Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon in a post-game presser where she said, “No one talks more cr-p than Caitlin too.”

Followed by this, Hammon hilariously pulled out a comparison between these players from today to her days as a player and added, “It’s a different generation. I think we talked subtly, but they be talking in your face, which is fine. Let them go. They’re big girls.”

Another perspective that was thrown at the women’s basketball athletes talking trash was that of Angel Reese who put out how women are viewed when it comes to trash-talking and it being a full circle moment.

She pointed out that it is okay in men’s sports to do that and so should be the case when it comes to women’s sports as well, as this creates a super competitive atmosphere and draws a lot of fans to the league. As a result, it helps in growing the game and the WNBA altogether. And we have certainly seen Caitlin Clark and others do their parts to skyrocket the NCAA WBB and WNBA’s popularity.