“When Our Counterparts Speak Up, It Speaks Volumes”: A’ja Wilson Reflects On Caitlin Clark’s White Privilege Confession That Earned Her Respect Within WNBA
Even while accusing the Caitlin Clark coverage by the media as being over the top, WNBA players let us know that she is also living rent free in their heads. Even three-time MVP A’ja Wilson clearly feels slighted in some way due to the explosive media and fan attention that Clark gets compared to every other player in the league.
The 2024 season was dominated by various opinions and narratives surrounding the Indiana Fever star. Even as Wilson went on to have one of the best seasons in WNBA history and establish herself as the best player – popularity aside – in the league.
The Las Vegas Aces legend also got her Nike deal, and her shoe has been released. Some feel Nike put Clark’s more highly anticipated shoe on the backburner to cater to Wilson and soften backlash from certain fans that the company was catering to Clark because she was a popular white player.
But anything Clark says or does is going to be either embraced or attacked.
As part of the latest Women Of the Year issue in TIME Magazine, Wilson responded to Clark’s controversial comments about her privilege as a white basketball star that the 2024 Rookie of the Year made in the same magazine last year.
“It’s powerful to me. As a Black woman in the WNBA, we have our struggles in showcasing who we really are,” Wilson told TIME. “A lot of agendas get pushed on a lot of different platforms that may shadow us. You work so hard, but you still have to work 10 times harder just to be seen. So, when we can have our counterparts speak up, it speaks volumes to me, because they’re in spaces where my path is never supposed to go. It’s crazy that we’re talking about that in 2025, but it’s real. We see those things as Black women. We see where people stand up and speak for us.”
Wilson called Clark’s statements “powerful” and expressed appreciation for the rookie going out on a limb to stick up for the Black players in the WNBA. It seems like the only way white WNBA players get embraced is when they express appreciation for the Black players who have come before them and who have become very territorial about the league since Clark rolled in and switched the game up, bringing an entire new fan base to the WNBA.
Despite her success, Wilson won’t let anyone forget the challenges she faces as Black woman, even in her own league. And how important Clark’s vocal support is.
Clark Accused Of “Bending The Knee” In Supporting Black WNBA Players
Clark received significant backlash from fans and conservative commentators and talking heads in December with her initial comments that she offered to make peace and show her support for her fellow player of all races, creeds and colors
At that time, Clark used her TIME’s Athlete Of the Year platform to acknowledge that she understands that race played a role in her popularity dating back to Iowa’s showdowns with Angel Reese’s LSU Tigers in the NCAA Tournament. The rivalry spilled into the WNBA season creating a stream of various narratives.
CC’s honesty was labeled as disingenuous “self-deprecation” by conservative race-baiters such as Megyn Kelly and Dave Portnoy. Even Black sports analysts such as Jason Whitlock and Stephen A. Smith offered their opinions that Clark was essentially “bending the knee” on this issue.
Because she didn’t play into their phony narrative games, she was criticized
The former Fox News host accused Clark of lying and “apologizing for being white and getting attention.”
Kelly is clearly just a troublemaker who feels like Caitlin should celebrate her white privilege rather than hide from it. Not sure why any of those people felt Clark would be comfortable enough to try to alienate herself or make enemies out of women she has to compete against, play with and build lasting relationships off the court with.
Clark Doubles Down On Time Magazine Race Comments
Clark doubled down on her statements in an interview with Maria Taylor back in December. The 2025 MVP favorite dismissed Kelly’s criticism while giving more flowers to the WNBA and the legends who inspired her journey, reminding everyone that she didn’t grow up play basketball in a bubble.
“I feel like I always have had a really good perspective on everything that’s happened in my life, whether that’s been good, whether that’s been bad. And then obviously coming to the WNBA, like I’ve said, I feel like I’ve earned every single thing that’s happened to me over the course of my career,” Clark explained.
“But also, I grew up a fan of this league from a very young age,” Clark added. “My favorite player was Maya Moore, like I know what this league was about. And like I said, it’s only been around 25-plus years, so I know there’ve been so many amazing Black women that have been in this league, and continuing to lift them up I think is very important.”
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – 2024 WNBA MVP and Time Magazine Women Of the Year A’ja Wilson (L) gives Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark (R) props for acknowledging her white privilege. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Clark has never mentioned any of her contemporaries in a way that suggests she has an issue with them, although she is often the subject of rants of victimization by Wilson and others. To her credit, Wilson spent some time mentioning the support she received from Clark and how she perceived it, as well as the uproar that followed.
More from Wilson via TIME:
“I know [Clark] got a lot of backlash from that, because obviously we live in a world where they don’t want that, and it’s exhausting,” Wilson said. “But imagine dealing with that and then having to go out and play every single night, having to constantly have to worry, How are they about to downgrade my resume now? What more do I have to do in order to showcase how elite and how serious I take my job? But I also do it with love and passion and fun. A lot of people don’t want to see me at the top, and that’s fine, but I’m gonna be there, because I worked my butt off to get there.
“I have a privilege in a lot of different ways. I can be in spaces where a lot of other Black women, white women, however you want to see it, are not — but that’s where I’m going to try to use my privilege of being a professional athlete to help others, because that’s what gives me my why,” Wilson continued. “So, claps, steps, all the in-between, because I know it’s hard to speak out on that. That’s why I try to speak out as much as I can, but people just see it a different way. That’s OK. I just want people to understand that when people can speak up about us as Black women in rooms that we may not be in, that means a lot. Because it’s a little piece of us in there—they can hold that door open for us to walk through. So, I’m grateful.”
Women of WNBA Need A Unified League To Eventually Survive On Its Own
The best thing the woman of the WNBA can do is continue to support each other as people and sisters in the struggle to help the WNBA increase salaries, continue to increase its fan base and make sure its biggest stars are playing in any leagues they start during the offseason.
There’s so much work to be done by all of the women of the WNBA and it won’t get accomplished if they aren’t working together, are hyper-focused on who’s respecting their race, petty jealousies or allowing fan opinion on social media to factor into how they operate in real life.
