Shaq Disagrees With Charles Barkley Saying WNBA Players Are ‘Hating’ On Caitlin Clark

The dominant topic in the WNBA this season has been the arrival and play of Caitlin Clark , and her budding on-court rivalry with fellow rookie Angel Reese. The two have been competing since high school and met in back-to-back years in the NCAA Tournament, with Reese’s LSU Tigers beating Iowa for a national title in 2023 and Clark’s Hawkeyes getting revenge in the Elite Eight this year. Now in the WNBA on the Fever and Sky respectively, their games have consistently broken WNBA viewership records on various networks.

However, the conversation about the two young stars has gotten out of hand, as they’ve become proxies in culture war arguments beyond the world of basketball. It’s seemingly impossible for anyone to have a relatively tame thought on Clark and Reese , but Shaq finally provided a reasonable take on the two young stars. Shaq is extremely close with Reese, as he’s been a longtime supporter as a fellow LSU alum, with his production company launching Reese’s new podcast and also playing a role in her being with Reebok. Despite that, Shaq has been incredibly impressed by Clark, calling her the “real deal” after watching a recent Fever-Sky game from courtside, and thinks the two are destined for greatness.

When asked about his Inside the NBA colleague Charles Barkley ‘s comments on other WNBA players being petty and hating on Clark on USA Today’s “Sports Seriously” , Shaq explained that it’s all part of the process for any young star that’s breaking into a new professional league — and, of course, getting a jab in at Barkley.

“There’s envious jealousy, there’s professional jealousy,” O’Neal said. “Sure there’s a lot of people who are professionally jealous. I am. I’m professionally jealous of a lot of people. I’m professionally jealous of Steph (Curry), he makes $60 million. But hey, that’s life. You gotta also understand that we’re not just going to give it to you because everybody else is giving it to you. You still gotta earn it. Chuck had to go through that, I had to go through that, so I understand what everybody’s doing. Yeah you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet. Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi, we still got A’ja Wilson, if you’re gonna give (Caitlin) props make sure our girls that are dominating in this league get the same props.”

“Loudmouths like Chuck are talking about hating — it’s not hating,” O’Neal said. “It’s like, you’re good but let’s slow it down a notch. As good as Caitlin Clark is, we’ve had a lot of young ladies who have been doing good (before) and not getting props. People like props and they want to feel good when you’re talking about (their league) … it’s not hating. Everybody has to wait their turn.”

It’s a refreshingly normal take from Shaq regarding Clark, and we’ve already seen how Clark is steadily earning that respect from the established stars by performing on the court — which is how it goes in every pro sports league. It’s also a bit funny for him to talk about being “professionally jealous” of NBA guys that make a ton of money , days after his latest spat with Rudy Gobert .