"It's silly": Lisa Bluder gets real about backlash faced by Caitlin Clark after winning Time's Athlete of the Year Award

The impact Caitlin Clark has had on women's basketball cannot be understated. Her impressive displays for the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Indiana Fever have undoubtedly drawn more eyeballs to the sport as fans continue to be mesmerized by her performances.

Last week, Time Magazine recognized Clark as the Athlete of the Year following a stellar rookie season with the WNBA's Fever and another strong run with Iowa. While she received immense praise, Sheila Johnson, co-owner of the Washington Mystics, was critical of her achievement, believing the entire league should have been featured as the "League of the Year" on the cover instead during an interview with CNN Sports.

Clark's former coach at Iowa, Lisa Bluder, quashed the criticism of the ex-Hawkeyes star's latest achievement in an appearance on USA Today's Sports "Seriously," when she was asked about Johnson's comments.

"It's silly to me that anybody's trying to take away from something that's so good in your sport right now," Bluder said. "I mean, this is a person that's really helped athletics, helped women's sports in a way that nobody has helped women's sports, maybe since Billie Jean King.

"So, let's get on the bandwagon and help her out, make her life a little bit easier because she is helping all of us."

Bluder talked about how she handled and encouraged the rest of her roster when the spotlight shined brightest on Caitlin Clark at Iowa.

"Sometimes, you know, we used to tell our team, 'Listen, when Caitlin's light shines on her, it shines on all of us,'" Bluder said. "And I think everybody else needs to embrace that a little bit better."

Caitlin Clark among the greatest players of the Lisa Bluder era at Iowa

Caitlin Clark established herself as a true force to be reckoned with at Iowa. She led Iowa to consecutive NCAA Tournament finals and averaged 28.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.5 steals across four seasons.

Before the Fever made her the top pick in this year's WNBA draft, Clark was named the consensus National Player of the Year for the second season in a row and also won the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year award in her final season with the Hawkeyes.

Caitlin Clark took the WNBA by storm in her rookie season, leading the Fever to their first appearance in the WNBA playoffs since 2016. She averaged 19.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 8.4 apg, winning the WNBA Rookie of the Year honor in near-unanimous fashion.