“They don’t have a problem with Angel Reese or Caitlin Clark”: When Kim Mulkey used Diana Taurasi & Brittney Griner to defend WNBA's physicality

Kim Mulkey addressed the physicality and toughness involved in the WNBA while speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in June. Mulkey spoke about her admiration for physicality on the court, citing it as an instrumental element in her coaching.

She claimed that the only reason Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were facing heightened physicality was due to the narratives created by fans. Coach Mulkey added that the outside noise had aggravated the older players, forcing them to retaliate against the young guns.

"Do you understand, in the WNBA, how long some of those players have played the game?" Kim Mulkey said (39:34). "I mean, you got (Diana) Taurasi, you got (Brittany) Griner, who played for me."

"Those guys have been playing for a long, long time and let me say this, they welcome, and if I can speak for them, they don't have a problem with Angel and Clark. Those girls really have done nothing to make them not like them. It's all the outside noise that aggravates those older players." she said.

Nevertheless, Kim Mulkey sees the tension between young and old players as nothing other than pure competitiveness. She claimed that it was just like two siblings wanting to meddle with each other while the outside noise (media and fans) fabricated narratives around the happenings.

Kim Mulkey comments on Caitlin Clark's Olympics snub

Being part of a gold-medalist Olympics team herself, Mulkey addressed the confusion around Clark's snub. Mulkey claimed that the selectors did not consider popularity as a factor in selecting players for the team.

Even though Mulkey said that Caitlin Clark had the talent and potential to make the Team USA squad, she said that there were other more experienced players who were given more consideration.

"I think, and I want to say this, is she good enough to be on the Olympics team?" Mulkey said (44:08). "She is, as are others, but that committee has a decision to make and they don't sit in there going, 'Oh, she's got to be on there because she's so popular in the growth of the game.'"

"They're looking at a pool of players who have put in their time and have gone overseas and played every summer and put in their time with USA basketball," Mulkey said.