WNBA legend Sue Bird says her fellow players are jealous of Fever rookie Caitlin Clark after her interview with Diana Taurasi on SportsCenter before the 2024 season. He said it has started.
This past WNBA season was unprecedented in viewership, revenue and attendance, with a meteoric rise fueled by a 2024 rookie class highlighted by Clark and Sky star Angel Reese.
With that success came negative reports about players targeting Clark with hard fouls on the court out of jealousy.
“In a way, it started with me and Diana and our show.” [“The Bird and Taurasi Show” on ESPN] be interviewed by [ESPN host] Scott Van Pelt and Diana are getting responses,” Byrd said of her and fiancée Megan Rapinoe. Podcast “A Touch More”.
“It's another moment where things get picked up on social media and it grows and people spit it out and 24 hours later it turns into something you can't even recognize,” Bird said.
Bird mentioned in an interview in April that Van Pelt asked Taurasi what was in store for the rookies entering the league, and the Mercury Star reported that Clark said, “Reality is getting closer.” He said there would be a transition period.
“What I understand 100 percent is that Princess Diana's comments went viral and that led to Twitter trolls and bot takeovers,” Bird said.
“And so what began was a story of petty, jealous players who hated Caitlin.
“That's what really happened. That's how it started — we must really hate her, we look at her sideways, we hope she comes to the WNBA and is successful. We don't want her, we hate her, that is, we are narrow-minded and jealous.
“And from there, by the time you get into the WNBA season, this is already planted in people's heads. This is already there. And when the games start and the play gets physical, that's always the case. But…
“…With the news that Kaitlyn was graduating from college and Angel Reese was going to be in the WNBA, we WNBA players were having basketball conversations and everyone was doing that. [the media coverage] It's just taking it to another place where we as humans are attacking them — and that's where that pettiness and jealousy lives again. That's off topic. ”
Bird's comments came as she and Rapinoe discussed the past five months in women's basketball.
Taurasi, who has praised Clark, the Fever's No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, previously explained that there will be a learning curve for this year's rookie class.
“Look, SVP, reality comes in. There are levels to this. And that's just life,” Taurasi said on SportsCenter during the Women's Final Four on April 6. He said this. You'll see it on the NBA side, you'll see it on this side.
“You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re playing against grown women who have played professional basketball for a long time.
“I can't say that (Clark's skills) don't make sense, because if you're good at what you're doing, you're going to get better and better. But as a rookie you have to give yourself some grace. There will be a transition period.”
Rapinoe also asked Bird, “How did you get here?” Speaking about USA Today columnist Kristin Brennan's recent interview with SunGard's DeJonai Carrington, the WNBPA issued a statement saying Brennan was “not qualified to be interviewed.”
The former USWNT star said he felt Brennan's question to Carrington about whether he intentionally poked Clark in the eye during the WNBA playoffs was “racist.”
