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Stephen A. Smith responded to a recent statement of the Wall Street Journal, calling for a government survey of WNBA for the controversial handling of physical plays against Superstar Caitlin Clark.
The Wall Street Journal, titled “Wnba and Caitlin Clark’s bourgeois rights”, withdrew mixed reactions this week after it argued that Clark has been subject to a hostile workplace because of how the judges have called physical spectacles against her dating her rookie season in 2024.
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Indiana Fevers Caitlin Clark sits on the bench after a apparent injury in the second half of a WNBA basketball match against Connecticut Sun, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Smith suggested support for a potential study.
“I’m not saying here that the case will be won by the government if it comes to the points. I say they have a case they have an argument,” Smith said of the idea during an episode of his show on Tuesday.
Smith also suggested that President Donald Trump could use such a study to strengthen support among his followers.
“Do we doubt that at his discretion, at his disposal, if he finds out that this is a question that is politically appropriate for him that Trump will not use this to feed his base?” Said Smith. “If [Clark] Setes to be physically being abused on the basketball court in a way that is such a clear and obvious inconsistency compared to what is happening to others, that to Man won’t say anything?
“You don’t think Catilin Clark could become a matter of national, potentially international and determined federal proportions?”
Smith cited recent agreements from Columbia University and Harvard University with Trump’s administration to conduct alleged violations of civil rights against Jewish students and employees as a comparison to a potential probe in WNBA’s treatment of Clark.
“If the Trump administration can settle down with Columbia for a $ 221 million settlement over what is taking place on a campus, do you think you can definitely exclude what kind of noise could be made if WNBA continues to allow this treatment of Caitlin Clark?” Said Smith.
Clark’s teammate, Fever Star Sophie Cunningham, has been one of the most vocal critics of the WNBA players and judges in the physical treatment of Clark and how it is handled.
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Diamond Deshields from Chicago Sky runs in and is indicted for an obvious error against Caitlin Clark from Indiana Fever in the WinTrust Arena on August 30, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Cunningam revealed how her previous team, Phoenix MercuryPlanned to play Clark during the Phenomena Rookie season in 2024. Cunningham played his first five seasons in Phoenix before leaving to join the fever this past out of season.
“You’ve seen players in our league try to like to tighten up Caitlin … Even when I wasn’t on her team, I know the conversations that Phoenix had in the dressing room, like, ‘No, we want to show her what w really is,’ and I get it to a certain extent and every rookie comes into the league, that’s how to treat them, but there’s there,” Cunningham. said on her podcasten last week.
“And now it’s to be on his team and see what I’m like ‘what are people doing?’ In fact, it’s just too much.
Cunningham was on the other side of the situation when she started a match to defend Clark during a game against Connecticut Sun earlier this season. Cunningham said Clark after the game finally exclaimed “Finally!” In the dressing room.
“In the dressing room she goes, I think she’s like” finally! “” Cunningham said. “But I think that kind of had our team together as a whole. Everyone was like, ‘we have to protect each other.'”
The skuffle went down in Connecticut on June 17, when Cunningham made a tough mistake on the Sun Guard Jacy Sheldon. Sheldon Poked clark in the eye Earlier in the game, and then colleague Sun Player Marina Mabrey pushed Clark to the ground.
Caitlin Clark from Indiana Fever responds after a flags of evil committed by Diamond Deshields #0 from Chicago Sky in Wintrust Arena on August 30, 2024 in Chicago, (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Cunningham formerly called the judges a few days after the match on June 17, while talking to journalists, not to protect Clark when she first had to address the match in public.
“During that, it was just part of the game. I think the judges had a lot to do with it. It was a structure for a few years now of those who just didn’t protect the star player in Wnba,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day I will protect my teammates. That’s what I do.”
