Charles Barkley had a large role in the current conversation surrounding Caitlin Clark and her treatment in the WNBA. The Pro Basketball Hall of Famer doubled down on his comments earlier this week!
He continues to believe that “petty” women are “jealous” of the No. 1 overall pick when they should be grateful for all she has done for the league in such a short amount of time.
Of course, this is part of a much bigger dialogue that focuses on Clark. It saw even further escalation when Angel Reese celebrated a cheap shot from Chennedy Carter over the weekend. All of the usual suspects came out from the woodwork to shout into the abyss about an incident that, while outlandish, quickly became something much bigger than it needs to be. You know who they are…
However, much of this discussion stemmed from comments made by Barkley on Inside The NBA last month.
The 61-year-old encouraged the “hating” women of the WNBA to thank Clark for getting them more money. He also referenced things like charter flights and overall popularity of the league.
Naturally, Barkley’s comments did not go over well with players both current and former. Kamilla Cardoso clapped back at what he said with an untrue claim about travel. Others told him to stay in his lane.
Barkley, who is currently on vacation, doesn’t care!
Sir Charles doubled down on his contentious comments during an appearance on The Ole Gabbox. It surely will not go over well, again.
Charles Barkley stands by what he said about Caitlin Clark!
Barkley was asked what he would call the treatment of Clark. He had just two words.
Petty jealousy… and it’s really unfortunate because of what she’s done for the game.
You know, listen, I believe in rookie hazing, but some of the criticism has gone overboard, and I think it’s really unfair because, man, you look at the ratings for the draft, the WNBA — she’s making everybody money. And I think she’s got some deals, good for her.
— Charles Barkley, via The Ole Gabbox
Barkley continues to encourage other WNBA players to appreciate Clark’s greatness.
Imean, [Caitlin Clark] set the record for the most points ever scored in college. I mean, that’s pretty incredible. But the girls got to grow up and like, “Yo, you know what? I can go at her hard on the basketball court, but the visibility and stuff she’s bringing to the league is only going to fill all our wallets up in the long run.” It’s just petty jealousy, and it’s really unfortunate.
— Charles Barkley, via The Ole Gabbox
When push comes to shove, Barkley cares about just one thing— basketball. All he wants to do is talk ball. Much of the talk about Clark is not even hoops related.
And the thing that’s really bad right now is we’re not even talking about basketball. That’s the problem that I have with the whole thing. And listen, we knew she was gonna struggle.
Kobe Bryant struggle. Every rookie struggles.
— Charles Barkley, via The Ole Gabbox
TheInd Fever are not good. They got the No. 1 pick, and in turn Clark, because they did not win enough games and won the WNBA Draft lottery. Everything else was up to fate.
Now that it happened how it did, Charles Barkley hopes that gratitude will soon follow.
There’s a reason they had the No. 1 pick in the draft; the team’s not very good. But what’s bad is instead of talking about all the good things happening for the WNBA, we’re talking about negativity.
There used to be the old saying, “All publicity is good publicity,” no it’s not. Not when you’re a niche sport trying to get the consumers to buy into your product.
— Charles Barkley, via The Ole Gabbox
Indiana is currently 2-9 through 11 games. Even though it is not on the floor again until the weekend, the team and its star player continue to be the most talked about single person/entity in sports!
Charles Barkley wants players to leave Caitlin Clark alone!