from the season Olympics Asia Wilson in there I I'm curious to know who the other candidates were is it based off of her performance on the court which yes she had a great year or is it more about the impact that she had on the game this season Caitlyn Clark has just added another massive Milestone to her already remarkable career being named times athlete of the year and if that isn't groundbreaking enough she's made history as the first ever WNBA player to receive this prestigious honor I want to give props to the one and only Caitlyn Clark who earlier today was named Time magazine's athlete of the Year our Caitlyn Clark has been named Time magazine's athlete of the year uh so the award which has been distributed since 2019 uh Clark becomes the first WNBA player to ever win this award but while fans are celebrating WNBA Legend Cheryl swoops has stirred controversy yet again questioning whether Clark truly deserve the recognition Cheryl swoops a basketball icon and Hall of Famer didn't hold back her opinions about Caitlyn Clark's time award speaking on gills arena with Gilbert Arenas and Kenyan Martin the three-time Olympic gold medalist acknowledged the significance of the Accolade but questioned the criteria for selecting the winner cherl star with you what's your reaction to Caitlin Clark win in Time Magazine athlete of the year um I don't think I'm surprised I I'm curious to know who the other candidates were but the fact that that's the very first WNBA player to ever win Time Magazine athlete of the year is pretty special and my question is like like the criteria is it based off of her performance on the court which yeah she had a great year or is it more about the impact that she had on the game season Caitlyn Clark's performance this year was unmatched with no other athlete making such a significant impact both on and off the court yet Cheryl swoops suggested AJ Wilson as a candidate for the award while Gilbert arenus mentioned other athletes like LeBron James and Simone biles their words clearly reflect a sense of jealousy when you think about you just think about athletes of this year yeah it's her uh the swimmer for Olympics Kat her performance you put some owns back in there you can put her back in there uh probably LeBron from his his Olympics plus you know like I me from the season Asia Wilson in The backlash from fans was Swift and intense many felt that swoops his comments lacked the respect Clark deserved for her groundbreaking year one fan didn't hold back tweeting this is utterly embarrassing on behalf of ss and Gil Envy is an ugly thing another wrote man I try and give SS the benefit of the doubt but F her at this point all she can say is who else was considered CC said all the right things and SS sits in silence when asked about it SS is such a victim cringeworthy watching Cheryl and Gil give their analysis on what the W should do to capitalize on money Gil ends with the fever shouldn't play sky at all another fan commented fans continued to call swoops out pointing to Clark's undeniable impact on and off the court swoops knows exactly why Clark won that award but she can never just congratulate Clark and leave it at that the impact Clark had on that league in one year for both performance s accolades as well as the eyes she brought onto the WNBA made her an easy winner of the award one fan explained another remarked swoops swear she doesn't dislike Clark but she's speaking like a true hater there's levels to this and Clark is on another level just congratulate her for getting into that stage why do you always bring other factors and ask for the criteria you kidding right gosh I really can't like this girl at all huh another fan asked point is made in the season while also establishing WNBA marks for assist in a single game and in a season and by the way that's how her impact that's just about her impact on the court off the court her presence led to higher ratings improved travel for players and increased salaries for women across the league and that's where I was going to go that's why she deserves the athlete of the Year swoops who has been openly critical of Clark in the past couldn't resist mentioning other athletes she believed were equally deserving including reigning WNBA MVP ajio Wilson Olympians Katie Lei and Simone biles and even NBA legend LeBron James but the drama doesn't stop there Cheryl swoops critique comes as no surprise to longtime followers of WNBA chatter over the past year she's made a habit of questioning Clark's accomplishments even calling her rookie stats impressive but not dominant she did yous so you don't consider 20 points per game so if her stats when we're saying she won't do this in the W she averaged 31. 6 7. 4 rebounds nine assists right did anyone expect her to do that in in in w three no right so she didn't do that no now if we say her stats are today what 20 points uh 8.
4 assist six rebounds that's crazy a number those are but to me that's not dominating it's only not dominating because she's a rookie now if she's putting up numbers like Asia right now would she be dominating yes so it's about the numbers apart from Cheryl swoops another WNBA figure criticized Caitlyn Clark being individually honored by Time Magazine Sheila Johnson co-owner of the Washington Mystics recently spoke on CNN to share her concerns about the cover she felt it would have been better to Spotlight the entire WNBA instead of just one player we are now and this year something clicked with the WNBA and it's because of the draft of the players that came in it's just not Caitlyn Clark it's reys we have so many so much talent out there that has been unrecognized and I don't think we can just pin it on one player she expressed that the WNBA has many overlooked talents and questioned why time didn't honor the entire league especially highlighting how players of color often go unrecognized I want to be very diplomatic about this um it's just the structure of the way media plays out race I'm going to be very honest um I feel really bad because I've seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition that they should have and I why couldn't they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said the WNBA is the league of the Year Johnson also expressed concern that focusing on one player causes resentment and fuels racism narratives in the WNBA because when you just keep singling out one player it creates hard feelings and so now you're starting to hear stories of race ISM within the WNBA and I don't want to hear that we have got to operate and become stronger as a league and respect everybody that's playing and their talents yet Clark's groundbreaking year has proved otherwise silencing most doubters and establishing her as a transformational figure in the sport it's hard to ignore the numbers that back up Clark's gamechanging influence she averaged 19. 2 points 8. 4 assists and 5.
