Back in December, when Caitlin Clark was named Time's Athlete of the Year, the Indiana Fever star ruffled feathers when she took some time to talk about her privilege during her cover athlete interview.
At the time, Caitlin Clark said that although she wants to say that she's earned every single thing that's come her way, she acknowledges that she benefits from both white privilege and the hard work of players who came before her.
During a sit-down with famed late-night host David Letterman on his My Next Guest Needs No Introduction series on Netflix, Clark doubled down on the comments, saying that growing up as a fan of the WNBA gave her an awareness of the players that came before her.
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Echoing a sentiment similar to the age-old saying that we stand on the shoulders of giants, Caitlin Clark stated:
"I definitely have privilege. I'm obviously white, but I think I'm somebody who grew up a huge fan of this league. ... So I know where this league comes from: a lot of Black women that grew up making this league what it is. And that's kind of the shoulders that we stand on.
"So I think that was something I'm very aware of, and something I'm very thankful for. And they deserve all the credit, and the more we can give credit to them, the better. I'm very aware of that, and I know that, and I think there is responsibility in acknowledging that."
Lost footage surfaces of Caitlin Clark annihilating the Iowa Hawkeye's Men's Practice Team following David Letterman interview
During Clark's interview with David Letterman, which took place in front of a live audience at Ball State University, David Letterman's alma mater, the two spoke about an infamous scrimmage that reportedly took place between the Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team, and the Iowa Hawkeyes Men's practice squad.
When Letterman brought up the scrimmage, Caitlin Clark brushed it off, saying that nobody knows if it actually happened, because nobody saw it happen.
After Letterman presses her for info, the Indiana Fever star shed light on the situation, revealing that she did in fact annihilate the men's practice squad, logging what she estimated was 22 points in two minutes.
As she recalled, her team was down 15 before she started nailing shots from beyond the arc as a visiting high school girl's basketball team went wild on the sidelines:
"I think I had 22 points in two minutes, was the moral of the story. ... We had a little audience, and we were up in our practice gym, and they were like jumping out of their chairs going crazy."
"We ended up winning and our boy practice players didn’t hear the end of it. They still don’t, I still love to bring it up, we talk a lot of crap.”
After the interview aired, footage of the practice session hit the internet, showing Clark knocking down some ludicrous shots.
Iowa fans will have a chance to see Caitlin Clark and the Fever put on a show against the Brazilian National Team in a WNBA preseason exhibition set for May 4 at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
The Fever tips off the 2025 season with a game on May 17 against the Chicago Sky.
