"Imagine hating LeBron James and Barkley": WNBA fans weigh in on Elle Duncan's scathing remarks on 'NBA vets' siding with Caitlin Clark's hype

The WNBA has garnered a lot of added interest recently, of which, Caitlin Clark has been a major influence. Regarded as one of the finest collegiate players of all time, Clark gathered a lot of attention even before she was drafted into the WNBA, scoring more points than any player, male or female, in college basketball history, becoming the NCAA all-time leading scorer.

Commenting on Clark's underwhelming performances in her first five games in the league, ESPN sports anchor Elle Duncan called out LeBron James and Charles Barkley for weighing in on the alleged weight on Clark's shoulders to live up to expectations after sparking significant interest to the WNBA.

"Now, we've got LeBron James and Charles Barkley ... all of a sudden, we've got this sound, it's like every few days we've got people weighing in on a subject that I feel like we had closed the book on, but apparently, we have not, so here is LeBron on his podcast talking about the narrative around Caitlin Clark and then Charles Barkley co-signing it," Duncan said.

Watch the segment at 7:55 here:

Fans took to social media to weigh in on Duncan's remarks on the NBA vets siding with Caitlin Clark's hype. Many called out Duncan for allegedly hating on LeBron James and Charles Barkley for supporting Clark.

"Imagine hating LeBron and Barkley for supporting CC," a fan wrote.

A reddit user's reaction to Duncan

"Neither Barkley nor LeBron told vets to “bend the knee” to CC or anything like it. Elle is putting words in their mouths and being disingenuous," a fan wrote.

Fans also expressed their opinion in reaction to James and Barkley's take on the Caitlin Clark debate as highlighted by Duncan on the podcast show.

"I feel like this video is just proving lebrons and barkleys point lol," a fan wrote.

"I get the frustration over Chuck's comment, that was ignorant, but isn't LeBron's comment spot on? Obviously not everything should be attributed to Caitlin but she's definitely the catalyst of all the big changes," a fan wrote.

Since being drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Caitlin Clark has arguably failed to live up to the hype.

Even though she's averaging 16.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in six games the Fever have played, Clark is also averaging 5.2 turnovers as the team ended their five-game losing streak to start the season.

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Elle Duncan responds to Charles Barkley calling out Caitlin Clark haters

While LeBron James simply shared his support for Caitlin Clark, Charles Barkley called out fellow WNBA players who're allegedly hating on Clark as "petty" while agreeing with James.

Frustrated with Chuck’s statement, Elle Duncan responded with a rant, justifying that no one is hating on Clark.

“I am tired of it … Who are these girls hating on Caitlin Clark… What are these women supposed to do? Faun over her, fangirl over her, bend the fuc*ing knee. … What do you want from them…

"We’re not every single game gonna revisit and retread the same tired-a** rhetoric that ‘All girls are hating on her, they need to be thankful’, they have been. They have said it,” Duncan said.

Elle Duncan also went on to call out the WNBA's counterpart arguing that if NBA players “faun(ed)” over a particular player, they would be called “weak” and “soft move.”

Despite a slow start, Caitlin Clark is expected to fare better as she adjusts to the rigors of the WNBA. Clark and the Indiana Fever ended their losing streak with a 78-73 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday.