Roberta Rodrigues, a Brazilian-American reporter, slammed Caitlin Clark for supposedly complaining too much in games and allowing her teammates to "babysit" her. The sports journalist also made claims about how Clark supposedly perceived her teammates.
Rodrigues expressed what she labeled as her “unsolicited opinion” following Clark’s remarks on her Indiana Fever teammates’ constant "de-escalation" tactics.
“Caitlin Clark behaves and exists like a white teenage boy, including using the privileges that come with being one," Rodrigues wrote on X. "It may be all giggles among the teammates for now, but getting your mostly black teammates to babysit you and finding it funny, especially when they start getting techs themselves as a result of your actions, has a really bad ring to it.”
“She is surely cool about being de-escalated, but had things to say about being fouled. She sees players being destroyed in her name and doesn’t do anything about it,” she added.
The reporter then called it one of the reasons why Clark was hard to appreciate outside of her on-court brilliance. Without specifying, she also compared her to other players in the league, who were as scrutinized or more by other people.
“That’s what makes it impossible to appreciate Caitlin Clark beyond her basketball. Especially when you have players who are much more poised than her being called the most horrible things,” Rodrigues said.
Clark has picked up six technical fouls this season and is one away from serving a one-game suspension during the regular season.
Nevertheless, Clark has been the team’s focal point, averaging 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 8.4 assists, and 1.3 steals. The Indiana Fever (20-19) have the sixth-best record in the WNBA.
Fever teammates always on the lookout for Clark’s temper
On Instagram, Caitlin Clark’s teammates reacted to how they tried to calm the rookie down during her heated moments with the referees. Aliyah Boston and Erica Wheeler laughed as photographer Bri Lewerke posted photos of Clark's teammates calming her down to prevent her from racking up more technical fouls.
“We work overtime 😂,” Aliyah Boston reacted to the post.
Meanwhile, Wheeler commented with four laughing emojis.
Clark also found the photos funny.
“Bruh🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣,” Clark commented.
The team has enjoyed an impressive run in the latter half of the season, winning seven of its last 10 games.
The Fever have only one game remaining on their regular season schedule. Regardless of the result of their game versus the Dallas Wings, the Fever will end the season with the sixth seed, as they await their opponents in the first round of the playoffs.