Satou Sabally hit out at Caitlin Clark’s WNBA popularity by saying the amount of Indiana Fever fans at their game was “annoying” as the Dallas Wings hosted the 22-year-old and her Fever team.
Clark has helped kick the WNBA into an era of unprecedented popularity and interest off the back of her extraordinary 2023 NCAA season as well as her heated rivalry with the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese.
So many people are rooting for the ex-Iowa Hawkeye and travelling to see her famed shooting ability from far and wide, even travelling the 899 miles between Dallas and Indianapolis to support her, which left Sabally feeling annoyed.
“Obviously it’s annoying cause there were way too many Caitlin Clark fans in our arena,” Sabally said with a laugh. “Just, kudos cause it’s amazing to see so many people in women’s basketball jerseys.
“It’s amazing to see the excitement and the joy that comes out of that. Although I feel like our Dallas fans could have done better.
“I had mixed feelings seeing all the Caitlin jerseys in our home, but it’s an amazing sign for women’s basketball and it’s just great how far we’ve come. It’s just fun. It’s a good thing.”
Clark has been very controversially received through her rookie season, with critics suggesting she is overrated whilst others tried to drag her into a racism scandal by suggesting she has become the face of the league because she is a white Christian.
But it was ultimately a positive message in the end from the Wings’ center in the face of some 500,000 fans that have turned out to see Clark’s Indiana Fever through 33 games, whilst attendances in the WNBA league-wide are also up 20 percent too.
Clark stars in Fever’s latest win
It’s two games and 200 points for the Indiana Fever as they continue their purple patch in the middle of the 2024 season with a 100-93 victory over the Wings, as Clark posted 28 points, 12 assists and four rebounds in another masterclass.
She has now shot for 19 points or more in every WNBA game she has played since July 6 with the exception of an 81-74 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on July 14 (she got 17 points), taking her total for the season up to 617 points for the season.
In the process, she broke the Fever’s franchise record for most points by a rookie as she surpassed Tamika Catchings who had held the record with 594 points.
source:marca.com
