The Indiana Fever have been the most talked about team in the WNBA this season, with league-wide attention surrounding rookie Caitlin Clark.
While there’s plenty of good around Clark and her ability to make an immediate impact in her rookie season, there’s also been some bad.
Former NFL star and current ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe was recently on his podcast the “Night Cap,” joined by another NFL great in Chad Johnson on his panel.
Sharpe shared an interesting stat about the WNBA this season. He mentioned that 17% of flagrant fouls have been committed against Caitlin Clark, and 80% of those penalties against Clark have been committed by the Chicago Sky.
He believes this physical play against Clark is happening because she is “busting their a**.” Sharpe commented on the debate that Clark and Reese are enemies and you can’t like one without hating the other.
The ESPN analyst said he can have any opinion that he pleases and he threw a subtle shot at the rest of the WNBA for not giving Clark credit, and instead sending her a message with flagrant penalties.
Sharpe doesn’t believe this statistic against Clark is a coincidence.
“Ocho (Chad Johnson), 17% of the WNBA’s flagrant fouls this season have been committed against Caitlin Clark,” Sharpe said. “The Chicago Sky were responsible for 80% of the flagrant fouls committed against Clark.”
Clark and the Fever recently played Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on Aug. 30.
The Indiana Fever star finished the game with a career-high 31 points while adding 12 assists and four rebounds.
Despite having to deal with physical play – hitting the deck after Diamond DeShields pushed Clark on a fast break opportunity – she was able to lead the Fever to a 100-81 victory.
“There’s some women, y’all had a lot to say… ‘If you like Caitlin Clark, you hate Angel, and if you love Angel, you can’t say anything good about Caitlin Clark,” Sharpe added.
DeShields’ foul against Clark, which was deemed purposeful, is the fourth flagrant foul against the rookie this season, committed by the Sky.
