Indiana Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark must be getting used to the target on her back from WNBA veterans who want to assert their dominance in competitive spirit.
However, this totally unnecessary hip check from Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter that knocked her to the ground before the ball was even inbounded felt like a bridge too far.
After hitting a bucket for the Sky, Carter earned a common foul for knocking into Clark and seemingly calling her an expletive before the aforementioned hip check.
Clark looked bewildered by the moment that certainly didn’t feel like a basketball play. Take a look.
Chennedy Carter scores and gives a shoulder to Caitlin Clarkpic.twitter.com/nQxkw1rvhH
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) June 1, 2024
They gotta chill on Caitlin Clark 🙄
(via @WNBA) pic.twitter.com/y0C6QgMilk— Overtime (@overtime) June 1, 2024
Caitlin Clark on the interaction:
"I wasn't expecting that, but it's just, 'Respond, calm down and let your play do the talking.' It is what it is.”
She added that she doesn’t want to retaliate, and usually the responding player gets penalized. https://t.co/5Uy87B2hPp
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 1, 2024
There is nothing wrong with opposing WNBA players getting physical with Clark during game play; that’s just the nature of competition. We’d expect Clark to welcome that.
However, Carter shoving Clark just to seemingly make a statement isn’t the best look.
That she refused to speak about the incident after the game looks even worse.
Chennedy Carter on the sequence with Caitlin Clark in the 3rd quarter: “I ain’t answering no Caitlin Clark questions.”
Full clip: pic.twitter.com/4bRnyXgPjV
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) June 1, 2024
Feature image courtesy of ESPN.
