WNBA legend Sue Bird said the narrative that fellow players are jealous of Fever rookie Caitlin Clark started with her and Diana Taurasi’s interview on “SportsCenter” before the 2024 season.
This past WNBA season was unprecedented in viewership, revenue and attendance, which saw a meteoric rise buoyed by the 2024 rookie class, highlighted by Clark and Sky star Angel Reese.
With that success came negative narratives that players were targeting Clark on the court with hard fouls due to jealousy.
“In some ways, it started with me and Diana and our show [“The Bird and Taurasi Show” on ESPN] getting interviewed by [ESPN host] Scott Van Pelt and Diana having her response,” Bird said on her and fiancee Megan Rapinoe’s “A Touch More” podcast.
“It’s another moment where things get taken onto social media and they just grow and people spew and it turns into something you can’t even recognize in 24 hours,” Bird said.
Bird was referring to an April interview during which Van Pelt asked Taurasi what was in store for the rookie class entering the league — and the Mercury Star said “reality is coming” and that there would be a transition period for Clark.
“Where I have 100 percent landed is, once Diana’s comments went viral, it led to the Twitter trolls and bots taking over,” Bird said.
“And what started there was this narrative of petty, jealous players, hating on Caitlin.
Sue Bird discusses narratives that players are jealous of Caitlin Clark while on her and Megan Rapinoe’s podcast, “A Touch More” in October 2024.YouTube/A Touch More
“That’s really what happened. That’s where it started — that we must just really must dislike her, that we look at her side-eyed, that we don’t want her to come in the WNBA and be successful, that we’re hating on her. So, we’re petty and jealous.
“And from there when we get to the start of the WNBA season this is already planted in people’s heads. This already exists. And when the games start and the play is physical, which it always is…
“… The coverage of Caitlin coming out of college, Angel Reese as well, and going into the WNBA, we as WNBA players were having basketball conversations and everbody [the media coverage] just took it to another place where we were attacking them as people — and that’s again where that petty and jealousy lives. I digress.”
Fever guard Caitlin Clark looks on during the game against the Connecticut Sun during Round one Game 2 of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs on September 25, 2024 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.NBAE via Getty Images
Bird’s comments came while she and Rapinoe were discussing the past five months in women’s basketball.
Taurasi, who has been complimentary of Clark — the No. 1 overall pick by the Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft — previously explained there would be a learning curve for this year’s rookie class.
“Look, SVP, reality is coming. There’s levels to this thing. And that’s just life,” Taurasi said during an appearance on “SportsCenter” during the Women’s Final Four on April 6. “We all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side.
Diana Taurasi during an interview on “SportsCenter” with Sue Bird and Scott Van Pelt (both not pictured) on April 6, 2024.X
“You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to (be playing against) some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.
“Not saying (Clark’s skills) are not gonna translate, because when you’re great at what you do, you’re just gonna get better. But there is gonna be a transition period where you’re gonna have to give yourself some grace as a rookie.”
Rapinoe also asked Bird, “How did we get here?” while speaking about USA Today columnist Christine Brennan and her recent interview with Sun guard DiJonai Carrington that led to the WNBPA releasing a statement saying that Brennan is “not entitled to interviews.”
The former USWNT star said Brennan’s question to Carrington of whether she intentionally poked Clark in the eye during the WNBA playoffs felt “racist.”
