The situaton between Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark and the rest of the WNBA players is not that complicated to analyze. A similar phenomenon has already happened multiple times in the NBA, where a promising rookie arrives and he is bullied by his peers as a welcome present. This toughens up anybody and that is exactly what will happen to Caitling Clark. Any athlete who is asked about this will tell you the same, such is the case of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. Although he didn’t suffer much as a rookie due to his massive body composition, surely there were veterans who gave him hell during his first season.
Shaq defends WNBA players on the Caitlin Clark debate
For Shaquille O’Neal, the situation is also quite simple and easy to read. He knows that WNBA players want Caitlin to know that she didn’t arrive on her own to help the league get more sponsors. There is a number of great players from a golden generation who arrived this season. Caitlin is just one of a large number that involves the likes of Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Shaq mentioned a couple more. To those who wonder, Shaquille O’Neal was talking about this topic on ‘The Big Podcast‘ with Shaquillle O’Neal. His words also are biased because he is a known supporter of Angel Reese. That alone should tell you that Shaq does have some skin in the game when it comes to the Caitlin Clark debate.
Shaq said: “The WNBA girls are letting her know … one person may have all the props, but it’s never one person. Don’t say we’re getting new sponsorships because of Caitlin. What about Angel? What about [Kamilla] Cardoso? What about my favorite, Kelsey Plum? So I think where people get upset is, as a player, you don’t want to be forgotten. It’s professional jealousy. I think people should focus more on not just her, cause she is a great player, but don’t forget about the beautiful Cardoso and my girl, Angel.”
