Though her maturity and polish in handling her immense fame has made Caitlin Clark oddly cast as a lightning rod, the Indiana Fever rookie has nonetheless been one of the most breathlessly discussed and polarizing athletes in the broader American sports landscape.
That constant chatter has inevitably included criticism as she has made the transition from a record-setting college career at Iowa to the WNBA, with some active WNBA players occasionally presented as a foil to her.
This weekend, she got to face off against one of those people — and the matchup opened with a cordial exchange.
REQUIRED READING:LIVE: Caitlin Clark nears a triple-double as Indiana Fever play the Phoenix Mercury
In the seconds before tip-off of the Fever’s game Sunday against the Phoenix Mercury, Clark slapped hands with and briefly hugged Mercury star Diana Taurasi in a symbolic meeting between the WNBA’s longstanding face of the league and its fresh new phenom.
Clark also shared an embrace and some quick words with Phoenix center Brittney Griner, a nine-time WNBA all-star, two-time WNBA scoring champion and two-time WNBA defensive player of the year.
Taurasi attracted attention in April, when she appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” after Clark and Iowa defeated UConn, Taurasi’s alma mater, in the Final Four. When asked by host Scott Van Pelt what Clark might experience in her move to the WNBA, Taurasi offered up what some interpreted as a harsh message to the two-time national college player of the year.
“Look, SVP, reality is coming,” Taurasi said. “There’s levels to this thing, and that’s just life. We all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side where you look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.
“Not saying that it’s not going to translate, because when you’re great at what you do, you’re just going to get better, but there is going to be a transition period where you’re going to have to give yourself some grace as a rookie. It might take a little bit longer for some people.”
Taurasi’s words weren’t particularly controversial — rookies in any professional sport endure their share of growing pains — and given some of Clark’s early struggles after getting to Indiana, Taurasi may well have been correct in her assessment.
REQUIRED READING:Caitlin Clark grew up idolizing Diana Taurasi. Playing her is ‘almost a dream come true.’
Still, the 10-time all-WNBA first team honoree became one of several voices who were viewed as critical of Clark as she entered the league as perhaps its most anticipated prospect ever.
The Fever’s game against the Mercury was unusually contentious, with five technical fouls between the two teams in the first half, though none of those involved Clark or Taurasi. In fact, the two were caught sharing a conversation mid-game.
For Clark, the opportunity to play against Taurasi for the first time was yet another milestone in a burgeoning career already full of them.
“That’s somebody I grew up idolizing and looking up to and wanting to be like one day,” Clark said heading into the game against the Mercury. “Obviously, she’s one of the greatest players our game has ever seen, greatest scorer our game has ever seen, so for me, I’m excited. It’s fun. It’s almost like a dream come true. You get to live out your dream while playing against the best, or one of the best there ever has been.”