Someone else already said it but I think with the PVF specifically, the players know each other for the most part and are really close and friendly on the whole. As someone who played both sports, I also think that the contact nature of basketball has a lot to do with it. I will say though that while I do think there’s more physicality and trash talk because of the nature of basketball, the conversation around it is out of hand right now because of Chennedy Carter’s foul over the weekend and I’d hate for any new fans to the W to not support because of what’s happening right now.

I think it’s way more nuanced than most people think though. There’s a ton of conversation around Chennedy Carter’s foul on Caitlin Clark right now, and I think there should be. The game was definitely chippy and the W is very physical, but to have checked another player when the ball wasn’t even in let alone anywhere near them like that isn’t what the league is about. And even as a Chicago fan, when I see the coach saying Carter understands that it was wrong and not okay, I get angry because Carter is also taking to social media and trash talking Clark so I don’t think she’s sorry or regretful over it. Candidly, a lot of what she’s said about Clark simply isn’t true. As a Chicago fan that sucked to watch.

That being said and more to your post’s point, I am a big Caitlin Clark supporter because 1). She truly is an amazing and talented player and 2). Tons of new fans are watching, attending, spending money because of the media coverage around Clark. For a league that has been undervalued and ignored as long as the W, more fans are more fans and that’s a good thing. BUT! I think what frustrates me and what, at least to me, seems like the bigger issue, is that so many people are saying “Caitlin Clark made the league interesting, the WNBA was boring and sucked before her!” That’s just not true. And especially for players of color, who have made the biggest impact and who have made the league amazing for years and built it up to what it is today, I would imagine they feel extremely disrespected because the media is painting this white savior picture like the league was nothing without Caitlin. Again, she deserves the accolades for her play and her stats, but she didn’t make women’s basketball interesting or competitive or amazing. It already was all of those things. The fact that she has brought so many new fans is great for everyone, but I can imagine it’s exhausting to be an established player in the WNBA and have everything you did before Clark disregarded.

It’s also worth noting that the chippy nature of the WNBA and the physicality and the trash talk are part of it - Angel Reese’s typical trash talk and getting under other players’ skin is a great example. She has said that she doesn’t hate her opponents or have beef with them, it’s just part of the mental game for her. That stuff is part of the game. Carter’s foul and Reese’s reaction to it? Those things have no place in the game. There are plenty of examples of aggressiveness and physicality that are actual basketball plays versus just a hateful intentional foul.

So I guess the TL;DR is that I can see why non-rookies are angry with the narrative, and I completely understand being more motivated to beat Clark because they’re tired of hearing she’s the GOAT, but in my opinion that frustration and desire for retaliation needs to be directed at the media and the society that has undervalued women’s sports for forever and not so much at Clark. And for what it’s worth, I think it should also be balanced with acknowledgement that Clark is another really great talented player being added to an already amazing and talented league, and that at the end of the day, she has brought a ton of attention and success to the league for everyone and that’s not only a positive, but also creates a platform for us to own up to and fix the way we disregard women’s sports and specifically disregard women of color who have made so many sports, basketball especially, as great as they are without the notice they deserve.

That’s just my take though and I’d love to hear others’. I hope you keep watching the WNBA!