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Coming off an outstanding rookie season in the WNBA, Caitin Clark has been named "Athlete of the Year" by TIME. Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson took exception to that decision, saying it's unfair to give Clark all the credit for the WNBA's rise in popularity. In an interview with CNN, Johnson said that all the focus on Clark has taken the spotlight away from other elite players across the league. "We have so much talent out there that has been unrecognized, and I don't think we can just pin it on one player," Johnson said. When asked why Clark was...

LeBron James is having a questionable week. First, the NBA star was called out by Colby Covington, and now he's dealing with a mysterious absence from the Lakers, apparently due to "fatigue." Only the Lakers brass know why LeBron took time off, while the rest of the fans concocted their own theories on what's happening. On Wednesday, Lakers coach J.J. Redick commented on LeBron James' absence from practice. He said James, turning 40 at the end of this month, was away from Lakers for "personal" reasons and that James is excused, as if the first-year coach had any other option....

LeBron James appears to be searching for answers as he steps away from the Lakers amid a worrying decline and swirling trade rumors. “LeBron is not with the team right now,” Redick told reporters while at practice on Wednesday. “He’s out for personal reasons, excused absence.” James missed his first game of the season on Sunday against the Blazers — a 107-98 victory — after previously setting a goal to play all 82 in his age-40 season. Redick added that James would “take some time” after struggling mightily in his last few games, including an 0-for-20 stretch from beyond the...

Caitlin Clark, the WNBA’s first international superstar, has taken a sharp turn down the path of woke politics, leaving many of her fans disheartened. Caitlin Clark’s meteoric rise—bolstered by her jaw-dropping, record-setting college career and stellar rookie season in the WNBA—seemed to offer a much-needed respite from the league’s ongoing struggles with dwindling viewership and ideological conformity. But instead of sticking to what made her a star, Clark appears to be prioritizing progressive virtue-signaling over her unique identity, alienating fans who admired her for standing tall amidst the leftist noise in professional sports. In her Time interview after being named...

After often remaining silent about her name being used in cultural disputes, Caitlin Clark has spoken up. The WNBA phenom was named Time's Athlete of the Year after putting women's basketball and women's sports on the map. After she entered the league, there were several comments made about her being White. WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson said Clark being White was a "huge thing" when it came to Clark's popularity. Angel Reese even said there had been "a lot of racism" from Iowa and Indiana Fever fans. Connecticut Sun player DiJonai Carrington, who poked Clark in the eye during a Connecticut...

University of South Florida men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim has died at 43 years old due to an undisclosed illness. The school said Abdur-Rahim died while suffering complications during a medical procedure at a Tampa-area hospital. “We are heartbroken over the passing of Coach Abdur-Rahim,” the school wrote on X. “A tremendous man & leader with an infectious personality that was a shining light to all he encountered. Our thoughts & prayers are with his family, friends and everyone that he left a lasting impact on.” Abdur-Rahim was entering his second season as head coach of USF after leading the...

Professional sports leagues aren't immune to lockouts, as we've seen them in the NFL, the NHL, the NBA and MLB over the past couple of decades. Could the WNBA be next? It's possible. On Monday, the WNBA Players' Association announced that they were opting out of their Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league. The current CBA, which was agreed on in 2020, featured an opt-out clause following the 2024 season, and the league's players are utilizing that. They will be negotiating for higher salaries, better accommodations and much more. The WNBA is coming off a record season in 2024, with...

While the WNBA is getting sellout crowds for the finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, the league’s owners will not be making a return on their investment for the foreseeable future, sources close to the situation said. The NBA owns nearly 60 percent of the league. When one combines the NBA owners’ personal stakes in WNBA teams and the WNBA itself, the amount rises to 75 percent, a source with direct knowledge of the numbers said. The NBA team owners have invested hundreds of millions in the WNBA since its 1996 formation, per sources.

The reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year is taking a slightly different approach to her offseason than most of her peers. ... Clark — the standout rookie who almost single-handedly turned around the historically moribund Indiana Fever franchise this past season — will compete in The Annika pro-am come November. ... the penultimate event of the LPGA Tour, and it will take place in Belleair, Florida. As the name of the event suggests, the tournament is hosted by legendary Swedish female golfer, Annika Sörenstam. ... But it won’t just be her skill on the links that Clark will test out...

Indiana Fever rookie of the year Caitlin Clark has brought millions of new fans to the WNBA, but as many of those fans are being accused of “racism,” the team’s new president is looking to re-brand. Kelly Krauskopf, the Fever’s new president of basketball operations, introduced herself to the press on Tuesday and insisted that one of her goals is to remake the team just like tech giant Apple or any other high-profile brand, according to Fox News. “We have a foundational player in Caitlin Clark, and we’re going to continue to add to that. But I want this team...

The first weekend of the WNBA playoffs without rookie phenom Caitlin Clark were a bit quieter in terms of attention and viewership. After Clark drew a WNBA record 1.84 million viewers to her first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun on Sept. 22, while competing with an NFL Sunday, she followed it up with another record audience of 2.54 million viewers for Game 2. Clark and the Indiana Fever lost both those games, however, sending Clark home for the offseason. Now, the remaining teams contending for the WNBA title are the New York Liberty, the defending champion Las Vegas Aces...

One of the giants of the sports world passed away yesterday. Dikembe Mutombo was an impressive basketball player with an 18-year NBA career, and at 7-foot-2-inches tall, he towered over mere mortals as well as some of his teammates and competitors. Born in 1966 in what is now the Republic of the Congo, Mutombo was one of 10 children of a principal and his wife. At age 21, he came to the U.S. to play basketball at Georgetown University, and he parlayed his college success into the NBA. Mutombo played in the big leagues for nearly two decades, including five-year...

Dikembe Mutombo, the Hall of Fame center whose playful finger-wags after blocking shots — which he did 3,289 times in his career — became iconic, has died at the age of 58 due to brain cancer, the NBA announced. Mutombo died surrounded by his family, according to the league. His family had announced a couple of years ago that the legendary Congolese big man had a brain tumor. Mutombo played 18 NBA seasons but made a bigger and more meaningful impact off the court, where he had worked tirelessly for years to help people back in his native Democratic Republic...

Caitlin Clark took a brutal poke to the face in her WNBA playoff debut on Sunday night - leaving the Indiana Fever rookie with a black eye. Clark's first playoff appearance up in the big leagues did not go to plan as the Fever slumped to a 93-69 defeat against the Connecticut Sun. And not only did she struggle in the game - with her return of 11 points a lot lower than she's become accustomed to this season - but the 22-year-old was also left rolling around on the floor in pain early on after being struck in the...

A Christian school in Vermont is appealing a judge's decision to uphold its ban from sporting activities because its girl's basketball team forfeited a game against a team that had a biological male on its roster. Mid Vermont Christian School filed an appeal last week before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as part of its fight to reverse an expulsion issued by the Vermont Principals' Association."To justify its expulsion decision, the VPA invoked discretionary policies applied on a 'case-by-case basis' and subject to individualized exceptions," stated the appeal's introduction."And though the VPA penalized Mid Vermont, it lets other...

There's no doubt that things can get physical in the WNBA, and Caitlin Clark can be the first one to attest to that. In her rookie season with the Indiana Fever, she's hit the floor several times, and some have come as flagrant fouls against the opposing teams. An interesting stat came up on a Caitlin Clark stats page on X, formerly Twitter, that could shock some people who watch her. “Interesting stat: 17% of the WNBA’s flagrant fouls this season have been committed against Caitlin Clark. The Chicago Sky were responsible for 80% of the flagrants committed against Clark,”...

Controversial podcast host Jason Whitlock has accused black WNBA players of being racist towards Caitlin Clark and slammed networks like ESPN for not talking about it. The No. 1 overall pick and rookie sensation has been subject to rough treatment on numerous occasions during her first season as a pro, with some accusing her opponents of being jealous of her remarkable impact on women's basketball. The latest incident arrived on Sunday when Seattle Storm's Skylar Diggins-Smith took a cheap shot at Clark after she inspired the Indiana Fever to a 92-75 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Diggins-Smith, an Olympic gold medalist...

WNBA and Olympian Diana Taurasi and Team USA Women’s Coach Cheryl Reeve used the Olympics to push Kamala Harris for president in an interview with USA Today. Taurasi is interviewed on video wearing her Team USA uniform shirt and saying that “a lot of us” see themselves in Harris. “More than anything, you know, for me, it’s policy,” Taurasi said of the most radically far-left candidate the Democrats have ever put up for the nomination, “What are you going to do for the people of America that need you?” “And I think there’s, you know, a big portion of us...

So Team (W)USA's quest for their 8th straight Gold Medal started off on the right foot yesterday with a 102-76 victory over Japan. That result is not the point of this blog, seeing as the team has not even lost a GAME in Olympic play since 1992. My eyebrows didn't raise a millimeter when I saw they won big. However one stat from yesterday's game that did suprise me was to hear that of all the games played thus far, Team USA's was the least attended by a mile. Look I'm not saying that their cranky head coach Cheryl Reeve...

Lille, France — It’s rare when Team USA finds itself in any situation that fits the definition of an Olympic losing streak, but such is the case when the Paris Games begin. Three years ago, at the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, the Americans lost the opener in Group Play to France. Therefore, in their quest to find motivation, if they choose to embrace it, there’s the matter of ending their opener skid at one. The slogan for Sunday’s tip against Serbia: Get a jump on these Olympics right from the jump. The excuses for that seven-point loss to the...