WNBA star Jonquel Jones has dismissed claims there was a targeted bullying campaign against Caitlin Clark last season.
Clark, the Indiana Fever’s sensational No. 1 draft pick, took the WNBA to a whole new level with a remarkable season that saw her named Rookie of the Year but end in early playoff heartbreak.
The former Iowa Hawkeye’s success led opposition teams to target Clark defensively – and she was often on the receiving end of a number of brutal hits during games.
Many believed the more aggressive play by Clark’s rivals was a result of jealously, given her meteoric impact on women’s basketball and the WNBA’s success.
But WNBA Finals MVP Jones, who won the title with the New York Liberty, has insisted there was no campaign against Clark and she should take the rougher treatment as a compliment.
Caitlin Clark, seen with a black eye, was not deliberately targeted last season, says WNBA star
WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones thinks Clark should take the rough treatment as a compliment
‘I think it was awkward for me like or kind of like, you would go on social media and you would just see like people pushing narratives that just weren’t ‘true,’ WNBA champion Jones said on the Kickin It With Dee podcast.
‘We’re going out there to compete hard every night… it’s our job, and we’re athletes.
‘It wasn’t that we, the WNBA players, are trying to like bully Caitlin Clark. But it was just the fact that we’re going to go out here, we’re going to hoop.
‘It was never about her personally or trying to attack her; it was just about us, you know, going out there. The best sign of respect you could get from an opponent is them coming out there and playing you hard.’
The first notable hit on Clark came when the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter brutally shoved her to the ground.
Carter, who claimed she acted after getting hit in the head moments earlier, also appeared to yell ‘you b***h’ at Clark before knocking her to the ground.
Then, in June, Clark’s bitter college rival Angel Reese smacked Clark in the head with a wild forearm.
In that same game, as Clark drove towards the basket in the first quarter, Dana Evans snuck her arm through Clark’s and hooked and held her to stop her momentum.
Angel Reese smacked her bitter college rival in the head during one game in the summer
Earlier, Chennedy Carter and her Sky teammate Dana Evans both combined to foul Clark
In the playoffs, Clark was poked in the eye by Connecticut guard DiJonai Carrington
When Clark gestured to the referee for a foul, Evans threw her arm away from Clark and appeared to say something before smiling in the Fever star’s direction.
Also, in September, DiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun gave Clark a black eye with a poke to the face.
Clark averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and led the league in assists with 8.4 per game.
Clark discovered earlier this month that she will be coached by Stephanie White next season.
White replaces Christie Sides, who led the Fever to a 20-20 record last season and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2016.
She spent the past two seasons as head coach of the Connecticut Sun before parting ways with the team last month.
The former star at Purdue served on the Fever coaching staff from 2011-16, including as head coach for the final two of those seasons. The Fever won the WNBA title in 2012 with White on the staff.
