He is right about all this, but he left out 'race', which is also involved unfortunately. That's a huge part of why it's a 3rd rail topic.
But with Whitlock's background, maybe he's tired of bringing up race. Which I would get.
The race claim continues to be lifted up and continues to be promptly beaten back down. Its like 2 years of this.
Are there people who dislike seeing a white woman be a major face of the WNBA? Sure, I bet there are. Does that mean Clark is widely hated, snubbed, and targeted on the court because she is white? Nope.
There have been a ton of white WNBA stars- MVPs, faces of franchises, etc. Heck, for multiple years now up until like 1 month ago, the only readily available signature shoe was a white girl's(Ionescu). The other signature shoe was...a white girl's(Stewie). All this should easily show that white women can be accepted and viewed as great in the league.
For all the love that Clark gets for her otherworldly play, stats show she is actually pretty human and hardly head and shoulders above everyone else.
With that said, it seems to consistently surprise people when Clark's actual stats are discussed.
- Her team is barely at .500 right now so she definitely isnt some 1 woman wrecking crew.
- she turns the ball over at an almost 25% clip.
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she is shooting 29.5% from deep. 29.5%. That is atrocious when 56% of your shots are from behind the arc.
Heck, she is 1 for 23 from deep in her last 3 games.
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her FG% is under 40%.
- a 1.58 to 1 A/TO ratio is simply not good for someone that handles the ball as much as her. Her teammates are to blame for some of her turnovers, but still...that is an objectively bad A/TO for a ball dominant player who facilitates so much.
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she is 11th in PPG.
In reality, she is a dang solid player who has brought a ton of interest to the game, but it is largely through pushing controversial short form video clips. Its a bunch of content farm created junk.
No criticism of her- she seems to be a baller that takes her job seriously and is above the manufactured controversy.