"They need a Black, male coach": Jason Whitlock unleashes fiery take, labels Christie Sides-Caitlin Clark partnership a "match made in hell"

Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides starred in a controversial moment with Caitlin Clark during their WNBA duel against the Chicago Sky. A series of videos surfaced after the Sky beat the Fever in a thriller this Sunday, with Clark and company losing 88-87 in the final seconds.

Veteran analyst Jason Whitlock reacted to that incident, saying that the partnership of Sides and Clark isn't working.

"A white woman trying to coach Caitlin Clark in the WNBA, with a predominantly Black women roster, that's a match made in hell," Whitlock said. "It cannot work. It's unsustainable. She can, if she tells them properly what to do, you've got a few of them women in there, they're gonna revolt and call her racist and just say you're catering everything to Caitlin Clark.

"They're gonna play the race card on her. I think they gotta have a Black, male coach. Mark Jackson, someone like that, to coach that team. He can go in there and tell them, 'Hey, look, this is the way we're playing. We got Caitlin Clark here. This is what we gotta do. Call me racist all you want, call me sexist, whatever. Call me an Uncle Tom, I don't care.

"'We're going to play through Caitlin Clark. We're gonna play a way that makes sense for her. Aliyah Boston, I gotta have you working with me. Don't take any more phone calls from Dawn Staley. I know that was your coach in college. I know you love her, but now you're in the WNBA. ... We're doing something completely different here.'"

Plenty of fans had a similar reaction to Whitlock after the videos surfaced. Despite taking the Indiana Fever on a four-game winning streak before Sunday's matchup, Christie Sides was criticized for how she coached the team in the first weeks of the season.

Christie Sides once called out Caitlin Clark, teammates for lack of effort

Before this situation took place, Christie Sides caught a lot of attention when she decided to sub her starters out at halftime against the Connecticut Sun in an 89-72 loss on June 10.

The coach called out her players for showing little effort against one of the league's top teams:

"At this level, you can't coach effort. I feel we were just asking them to keep playing. You can't start there. You can't keep playing in this league where we have to coach effort."

After suffering a loss against a team Indiana had beaten twice in a row, Sides is again on the receiving end of criticism.