Difficult Times for Moments Like These…

I’ve been what you might say is WNBA curious lately. Yes, it’s because of the Caitlin Clark. If you don’t know, Clark is a basketball player who set records for scoring in college while leading her Iowa team to two consecutive finals. Iowa lost both times, but still pretty good. Clark caught everyone’s attention because she rains shots from another dimension while on the court. They are impressive.

Anyway, she generated a lot of interest during the NCAA tournament, which in turn helped people get to see just how good women’s basketball is. Clark was the first player selected in the WNBA draft this season and that league too has had unprecedented interest.

Now, there have been some players who clearly resent Clark, a rookie, getting this much attention and that it took this long to get more people to see just how good the league has become. Clark was a dominant player in college, but has had her struggles in the WNBA, because let’s face it, every person she’s facing on the floor is the best of the best in women’s basketball. They’re all-Americans, MVPs, Olympians, NCAA champions and adults. That said, there are plenty of women in the league who playing at a level that should make most of the new fans more than curious.

You look at Breanna Stewart in New York, A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum down in Vegas, one of my favorites, Diana Taurasi in Phoenix, and you get to see something special. (Please note, I lived in Connecticut for 16 years so the UConn players are dear to me, including Gabby Williams and Tina Charles, Maya Moore and the now-retired Sue Bird.)

One of the things I worry about is that it’s a terrible time to actually get a moment like this for the WNBA or just about any community of people. See, when you’ve been working with a group of people or on your own for years and you finally get some recognition for being great at what you do, you should get to enjoy it. But right now, our country isn’t likely to let anyone have their moment, not even 15 minutes, without pushing some conflict or trying to discredit it.

Anyway, as the season goes on I do hope the WNBA gets a chance to enjoy this moment and hopefully build off of it instead of seeing it fall apart, cut up by a million controversies and conflicts.