The 2024 WNBA playoffs are underway. In terms of viewership, it has been one of the best seasons for the WNBA, but that platform has brought some unforeseen problems.
A bigger platform for players has now resulted in a bigger platform for fans. This has been great when it leads to support for the sport itself, but it has also seen some people show their true colors by saying obscene things to the players out of anger.
Caitlin Clark was a star basketball player at Iowa and became the focal point of women's basketball. Her popularity continued into the WNBA, and the Indiana Fever drew plenty of attention and views. Indiana made the playoffs but was bounced in the first round by the Connecticut Sun in two games.
Despite both games being in Connecticut, players on the Sun were subject to racist comments from fans. This brought into focus what many WNBA players have had to deal with this season, prompting some to address it, from Angel Reese to Clark.
MORE: Alyssa Thomas calls out Fever fans for racist comments
Caitlin Clark's message to racist fans
After the Fever were eliminated from the playoffs, the team held a season-ending press conference on Friday.
Clark was asked about the racism and hate that the WNBA players have gotten this season, and she used her platform once again to address the situation.
"Yeah, it's definitely upsetting," Clark said. "Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren't fans, those are trolls, and it's a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA.
"But there are a lot of really good fans, whether they've been fans for 20 plus years or whether they're new fans in our league. I think continuing to uplift this league in a very positive light is the best thing that we can do, because there are so many great players, there's so many great teams, there are so many positive storylines that can be written and celebrated.
"For me, that's why I became a fan of this league, is these people were my idols, I grew up wanting to be like them. So I think continuing to uplift and represent this league in a positive way is the best thing that we can do."
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Alyssa Thomas calls out racist fans
Sun star Alyssa Thomas called out the behavior of Indiana fans from the series following Game 2. Her comments led the WNBA to publish an official statement on X, formerly Twitter.
From Thomas:
I think in my 11-year career, I've never experienced the racial comments (like) from the Indiana Fever fan base.
It's unacceptable, honestly, and there's no place for it. We've been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I've never been called the things that I've been called on social media, and there's no place for it. Basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don't want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.
We already see what's happening in the world and what we have to deal with in that aspect. We come to play basketball for our job, and it's fun, but we don't want to go to work every day and have social media blown up over things like that. It's uncalled for and something needs to be done, whether it's them checking their fans or the league, there's no time for it anymore.
Thomas also referenced the disrespectful usage of teammate DiJonai Carrington's likeness in a Photoshopped image circulated on X.
Thomas' statement follows after Carrington's August assertion that the Fever "have the nastiest fans in the W." Ahead of Game 2, Carrington took to Instagram to share an email in which she was called a racial slur, seemingly in response to her inadvertent poke of Clark's eye in Game 1.
MORE: The next steps for Fever to build contender around Caitlin Clark
WNBA's response after Thomas' comments
Angel Reese responds to ESPN segment
Reese missed the end of her rookie season due to an injury and is forced to watch the playoffs on television. She watched a segment done on ESPN calling out fans for their uncalled behavior toward WNBA players and took to X to respond.
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