This isn't about Caitlin Clark

The WNBA needs to fix its game

It’s become the hottest take in the WNBA. ESPN’s Rebecca Lobo counting off the fouls on Caitlin clark as they happen, “That’s a foul. That’s a grab. That’s another foul.”

Predictably, it has set off a whole new version of “Caitlin Clark is either . . . getting beat up out there.”

Or . . . “is getting special treatment.”

Here, take a look and see what you think.

And if you’d like to debate the Clark effect again go right ahead. Watching that clip certainly gives you plenty of fodder.

But I think there’s a larger point to be made here.

It’s not just Caitlin Clark. The game is too rough. And the league doesn’t know what to do about it.

Recently — as in the last two years or so — the Women’s National Basketball has been yanked from the back pages of the sports sections and pulled directly into the spotlight.

Complications have ensued.

For starters, it is one of the rules of overnight-stardom that whomever was in on the ground floor when it all started is guaranteed to get defensive.

“Where have you been?” they ask. “We’ve been doing this forever and you just noticed?”

This is certainly true in the case of the WNBA. The league has a history. There are established stars, playing at a high level, that haven’t been recognized.

However, there’s no doubting the attention has gone way, way up. And those new media types, who are eager to promote WNBA content, may not want to hear a lecture about how they are late to the party.

And of course, that’s the on-ramp to the Caitlin Clark speedway. Now in her second season Clark has been a demonstrable sensation. Attendance figures yo-yo based on whether Clark is playing, . For road games there’s a 34 percent drop when she isn’t suited up.

There’s a whole Clark melodrama if you want to get into it. She was snubbed for a spot on the Olympic team. WNBA legend Diana Taurasi warned her “reality is coming,” when she got to the pro game. (And then had to apologize when Clark won Rookie of the Year.)

USA Today’s Christine Brennan has a book on Clark coming out with lots of details that will only supercharge the Clark debate. Expect even louder podcast takes.

I’ve got lots of opinions about Clark, and would be happy to share them, but recently Brennan has been doing some very pointed interviews for her book and I think she is making some good points.

Two things seem pretty clear about the WNBA and Clark. One, they had no idea she was going to be this big of a deal. And two, they don’t know what to do with the attention she’s bringing to the sport.

Brennan laid into WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to take stronger action when Clark was clobbered by Marina Mabrey.

“How Cathy Engelbert doesn’t come out after the Marina Mabrey hit and say, ‘That’s unacceptable, the refs got it wrong… now you’re suspended.’ That’s just unacceptable behavior,” she said on MSN. (Full disclosure. I covered many events with Christine Brennan and consider her a friend. So not unbiased.)

To which I would make two points.

She’s right, Engelbert looked weak and ineffective.

And second, you’re missing the point if you only concentrate on what’s happening to Caitlin Clark.

I will admit I was a WNBA skeptic. And yes, I was brought to the game by the Clark hype. Watched her last year at Iowa and then her first pro season.

But that also caused me to watch a lot of other players and games.

And, not to be too dramatic, but I was shocked.

The game is way too rough. The fouls are deliberate and intentional. Setting a screen means throwing a shoulder. Grabbing a ball handler to hold her back is routine.

But don’t listen to me. Here’s Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon:

“I think the physicality is out of control,” she said last week after a loss to Washington. “I think the freedom of movement is a joke. There is no freedom of movement. You get grabbed and held every time you run a route, you get grabbed and held every time you set a screen and you try to roll. It’s not basketball, it’s rugby. That’s why the scoring isn’t as good as what it was in the past.”

Hammon isn’t some former gym teacher who scored a coaching job. She’s a six-time WNBA All Star and was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, one of the first women to get an NBA coaching position.

I’d say she knows what she’s talking about. And she’s not the only one to say it.

The point is, people react when Clark gets fouled, because they are paying attention. But this is happening in every game. To every player. The play under the basket is often elbows and slaps. It isn’t hard to spot.

Or maybe it is.

If you notice, more often than not, personal fouls calls are NOT replayed during games.

We’ll see a foul, and a player will be outraged, and turn to the official to complain. But do we see what happened? Often we don’t.

Instead, we cut away to show someone making a nice, harmless three-point shot. Why concentrate on those unpleasant fouls when we can see someone score points?

Of course, if you show those replays people know if the refs missed the call. And, we also see how physical and over-the-top some of those fouls can be. It is accountability.

My guess is the league is supporting this. If so, it only cements the idea that this is too big for them.

Take action, for God’s sake. There’s general agreement that the games have become “rugby” in Hammon’s phrase. Brennan says the officials look “paralyzed,” afraid to make a call.

So say so. Hold a press conference. Announce that there’s going to be a re-set. Freedom of movement will be respected. Fouls will be called. Replays will be shown.

You’ll be surprised how quickly everyone adapts.

After all, these are some of the best athletes in the world. Let them show it.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter and Threads: @cwnevius