Sage Steele: WNBA mistreats generational talent Caitlin Clark
Host of ‘The Sage Steele Show’ Sage Steele claims the WNBA is mistreating generational talent Caitlin Clark. Steele criticizes the league’s consistently poor officiating, which has led to numerous uncalled fouls against Clark and other players this season. She stresses that this continued neglect risks losing the WNBA’s growing fan base.
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Believe it or not, we are only two months away from the WNBA Playoffs. There’s still a lot to catch up on with the season, but when your season is only 44 games, it tends to go by pretty quickly. It has been an interesting campaign. With two new teams in the league, a big turnaround from the Wings and quite a drop from the Aces and Liberty, there could be new excitement in the postseason. Before we get to that, let’s talk about the Sun and the league’s most popular team, the Fever.
The Connecticut Sun are 7-19 on the season and have only won three games on the road. I think this will be the last season of sun in Connecticut and this will be one that everyone forgets. The Sun started the year with just two wins in 15 games, but have gone 5-4 over the past nine games, so at least the Sun are showing some progress. The biggest problem for this team seems to be that it can’t find someone to get a bucket when absolutely necessary.
Phoenix Mercury forward Natasha Mack battles for a rebound with Connecticut Sun center Brittney Griner at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2026. (Joe Rondone/The Republic/USA T)
The team is led by Brittney Griner, but she scores just 14.1 points in 25.8 minutes. This is her second lowest total point production since her rookie season. Last year was her worst, with just 9.8 points per game. match. Maybe it’s because she’s 35 years old and slowing down, but she’s no longer the force she once was. The bigger problem for the team is that it is only a handful of players – some are cut from other teams, others are free agents who have been pieced together. But the pieces don’t fit very well.
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The Indiana Fever have a better record than the Sun, but that’s not much of a challenge. I think one of the things to remember about the Fever is that they get the best effort from every team they face every night. The WNBA players don’t really like Caitlin Clark (or so it seems), and the stakes are clearly different in games with her involved. The Fever are 10-5 at home this year and have won seven of their last ten games overall. Another thing to remember about the Fever is that the beginning of this season was a big adjustment.
Caitlin Clark attacks the rim as the Indiana Fever take on the Las Vegas Aces in a WNBA game. (David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)
Clark was out for most of last season, and her re-entry into the fold, even after a very successful run in the playoffs last year without her, meant the team had to learn new roles. She is ball-dominant and a fantastic passer, so the team had to change the offense a bit. The Fever look to get back to their best last season as they seemed to get Kelsey Mitchell buckets. She has led them in scoring in eight of the past nine games. Maybe it’s a balance between last year’s success and this year’s adjustments.
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The Sun aren’t a team you’d expect to score a ton of points – averaging only around 80 points per game. match. However, Feberne is not a particularly good defensive team, and again you get a great effort every time from the opponent. I feel like the total could go either way, I don’t know that the sun can stop the fever, but I don’t think the fever has much interest in playing defense either.
Indiana Fever players Lexie Hull (10), Caitlin Clark (22) and Damiris Dantas (12) celebrate after the game against the Phoenix Mercury at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on July 9, 2026. (Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images)
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The fever has a rest advantage in this game; they have been home for a while but had a back to back before this. Still, they have taken a few days off. Being in the same gym for multiple days helps with sight lines for shooters and allows them to be more comfortable. The Sun will have a long way to go after this game, but will still be on the move. I like the fever early in this one as I’m not sure they’ll blow the sun out late. Connecticut has been keeping games close on the road lately. Give me the fever 1st quarter of -2.5. I think this is where they will have the biggest advantage of being familiar with shooting.
