WNBA champion Natasha Cloud targeted the new sports fans who criticized the faults against Caitlin Clark last season.
During an interview on the “Podcast Pivot” with Ryan Clark, Cloud weighed on the debate that rocked WNBA last year when several illegal successes against Clark aroused the outrage of many fans.
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Natasha Cloud of Phoenix Mercury in a match against Indiana fever on June 30, 2024, at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. (Barry Gossage / NBAE via Getty Images)
“It’s just a part of the game. There was no targeting, there was nothing. This story that was shot in” Oh, the veterinarians hate recruits. Recruits hate veterinarians. The veterinarians are going after some players, “this is all racism” said Cloud.
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Clark took a infamous illegal hip check from the Chicago Sky Carter Chicago striker on June 1. Another Sky player and the Clark archrival, Angel Reese, struck Clark in his head with his arm while trying to block a pass for a match on June 16. On August 31, another Sky player, Diamond Deshields, sent Clark flying on the ground for a fault that was renovated in Flagran.
In the first eliminatory match of Clark against Connecticut Sun on September 22, the Sun Player Dijonai Carrington gave an eye to the butter by pushing it with his nails.
The Indiana Caitlin Clark fever goalkeeper reacts to a fault in the first quarter in the first match of the first round of the WNBA 2024 playoffs in Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., On September 22, 2024. (Mark Smith / Imagn images)
“He blew himself up,” Oh, they attack Caitlin Clark. “But, no, we simply play one of the best players in this league in the way any other best franchise player has been played,” said Cloud.
Earlier in the interview, Cloud addressed the increase in WNBA fans and suggested that their interest was not rooted in the Fandom.
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“The madness that came with the new Fandom was rooted in something other than the Fandom, and I think it was very obvious at all levels,” said Cloud. “In many ways, there was no question of basketball.”
Cloud is not the first WNBA player or a former player to suggest that some of Clark’s disciples are racist.
Caitlin Clark (22 years old) of Indiana Fever and Angel Reese (5) from the Chicago Sky in a match on June 1, 2024, in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Jeff Haynes / NBAE via Getty Images)
Reese said in the first episode of his podcast “there is a lot of racism with regard to” the motivation of Clark fans. WNBA legend Sue Bird shouted In this group of its podcast in November, saying that some of them are not even Clark fans, but “act” as fans while “pushing racist agendas and pushing hatred”.
However, not all female basketball players are as disdainful of controversial fans that Clark has brought to sport.
The USC women’s basketball star Juju Watkins, who is fortunate to break the Clark NCAA marking record, previously told PK Press Club Digital that she welcomes all the fans that Clark brought to sport and hopes that they could even root Watkins.
The USC women’s basketball player, Juju Watkins, before a recent match in Cal St. Long Beach in Long Beach, California, December 21, 2023. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“So many new fans who are in sport can sometimes be, not necessarily difficult, but can simply give you a little headache. Not many people know what they are talking about sometimes. But it’s great for sport. The fact that people are looking at it,” said Watkins.
“We would like it to be positive, but it will not always be like that. So, as long as we continue to increase the figures and the viewer, I think that is all we can ask.”
When asked if she wanted the new controversial fans to the sport also encouraged her, Watkins replied: “Oh yeah. I love supporters, and I also like enemies.
“I think this is only part of the game. There are so many sides. So it is the nature of the game, and there will always be negative and positive aspects.”
