Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has claimed the 11 Republican lawmakers who wrote to the WNBA over Caitlin Clark’s treatment from rival players are only getting involved because the Indiana Fever star is white.
Clark has been targeted by opposing players across the league since the Fever chose her with the first pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft and throughout that time observers – but crucially not Clark – have questioned if there’s a racial element to the incidents.
It’s a topic that was reignited when Alyssa Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury appeared to drive a closed fist into Clark’s neck during a game in late June.
After an intense backlash, Thomas was duly banned for one game after initially escaping without a flagrant foul. But the moment kickstarted 11 Republican lawmakers, led by August Pfluger of Texas, into life. They sent WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert a letter saying they are concerned attacks on Clark ‘may be racially motivated.’
That prompted six-time NBA champion Abdul-Jabbar, 79, to tackle the matter on his substack in a scathing post where he also ridiculed their claims that Clark is ‘the face’ of the WNBA.
‘My first reaction to this letter was to check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t April Fools’ Day,’ he said. ‘Clark is white and Thomas is Black, and I guess that was enough for these intrepid lawmakers to decide the play might have been racially motivated.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has slammed the letter sent by Republicans to WNBA on Caitlin Clark
It came amid Alyssa Thomas appearing to drive a fist into Caitlin Clark’s throat last month
‘You don’t have to ask what race these eleven GOP congresspeople are, as there are only two Black Republicans currently in the House of Representatives.
‘So forgive me if it strikes me as much more likely that the letter was racially motivated, rather than the play. Not surprisingly, Thomas and her family subsequently received racist abuse and death threats on the internet.’
The letter requested a response from Englebert by July 24. The Fever said they did not know it was going to be sent to the WNBA.
Clark has repeatedly denounced opponents getting targeted with online racist abuse and did so again in the aftermath of the Thomas fallout.
Clark is midway through her third WNBA season. She missed most of the second through injury but excitement around her involvement swept across the United States in her first season, with many games moved to NBA arenas and still selling out.
The extra attention led to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement this year which has seen more cash enter the league and players landing more lucrative salaries.
But even so, it’s success on the court and not the profile away from it that, in the eyes of Abdul-Jabbar, makes a player the leading figure,
‘Don’t get me wrong: Clark is a very good, possibly even a great, player,’ he wrote.
A group of Republican lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of Texas (pictured), wrote to the WNBA demanding answers about how Clark is treated on the court
Abdul-Jabbar has said that they have only defended Clark because she ‘is white’
‘But calling any one player the face of the league, absent the sort of on-court and cross-platform dominance of a Michael Jordan or a LeBron James, is an insult to an awful lot of great players, starting with A’ja Wilson, who has won three titles and four MVP awards in her first seven years in the WNBA.’
It comes as Clark, 24, was embroiled in new controversy on Wednesday night when her team lost 88-75 to Golden State Valkyries.
She erupted at the referee when she penalized her teammate, Aliyah Boston, for a foul on Golden State’s Veronica Burton, just moments after Clark was not awarded a foul of her own.
Minutes earlier, Clark had made a layup while falling to the ground after being challenged by Kiah Stokes, yet the referee chose not to call a foul.
