"NBA is dead": Jason Whitlock makes bold declaration citing Caitlin Clark's All-Star Weekend snub

Jason Whitlock strongly criticized Caitlin Clark's decision to forgo the men-against-women 3-point contest the NBA was trying to organize for Saturday night, the second and sometimes most entertaining day of the All-Star weekend. Clark was mentioned as a potential player to join Sabrina Ionescu and Steph Curry in a second and bigger edition of their contest.

Caitlin Clark declined the invitation in January with a statement issued by her sports agency. The WNBA Rookie of the Year said she would prefer to have her first 3-point contest during the WNBA All-Star weekend in the summer. On Saturday, Whitlock said Clark's rejection confirms that the league is "dead."

"Rob Parker saved NBA All-Star Weekend. I promise you I had no idea it was this weekend. Rob Parker's Caitlin Clark take is the most interesting thing about ASW. Wow. NBA is dead," the analyst tweeted on Friday.

The "Rob Parker take" Whitlock referred to was made by the Fox Sports Radio host on Friday, too. Parker claimed Clark ruined the NBA All-Star weekend by deciding not to participate in the highly anticipated contest that would have also included Klay Thompson.

"There’s one person and one person only who has ruined NBA All-Star Weekend – and that’s Caitlin Clark," he said.

Parker further explained how Caitlin Clark's presence would have differentiated her event from the rest of the All-Star festivities.

“Caitlin Clark has ruined NBA All-Star Weekend. They invited her to be involved in the shooting contest with Steph, right? And they were gonna make this nice thing go, and give people something to watch. She is television ratings gold, right? Everything she’s in, people are watching," he added."

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NBA Hall of Famer predicts Caitlin Clark to average ridiculous PPG in WNBA

As Caitlin Clark enters her second WNBA season, the expectations for the young guard are higher. It took her a while to get the hang of the competition, but once she felt more comfortable, the Fever started winning games.

LA Lakers legend Michael Cooper believes that Clark's scoring numbers will go higher now, even claiming the former No. 1 overall pick could eventually average over 30 points per game.

"You’re really getting to see her explode," Cooper said. "I think she’s probably going to be the first WNBA player to average about 34-35 a game. I think she got that kind of potential."

Those are the numbers Michael Jordan averaged during his third and fourth seasons (37.1 and 35.0 ppg), but Clark is at the age Jordan was able to dominate NBA defenses so effectively.