These days, a discussion about the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark and her current place in the WNBA feels almost omnipresent.
In short, there is a sizable segment of hoops fans, largely brought in by Clark’s play style, who believe she deserves more credit for bringing attention to the modern league. At the same time, another segment of fans (and probably many active WNBA players) think Clark has been anointed way too early. This, even though she has yet to accomplish anything of team consequence as a professional player, while simultaneously taking up so much oxygen from many other exciting and talented players around the league.
You can count basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the latter camp.
In a recent article on his Substack, Abdul-Jabbar takes issue with Clark being labeled as the face of the WNBA despite not yet having a Michael Jordan or LeBron James-like dominance on the league itself. To Abdul-Jabbar, doing this is an “insult” to a lot of active WNBA players, some of whom are assuredly just as good, if not better than Clark as it stands.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says calling Caitlin Clark “the face of the league” is disrespectful to past WNBA players who paved the way for her:
“Clark is a very good, possibly even a great player. But calling any one player the face of the league, absent the sort of on-court and… pic.twitter.com/RvMDVpeR97
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 15, 2026
Abdul-Jabbar is absolutely correct. To be sure, he never says Clark can’t be that kind of player eventually. It sure seems like the three-time All-Star very well might become that sort of special player down the line. She is, after all, only 24 years old. But she’s certainly not that kind of player now. She hasn’t even won a single playoff series with the Fever!
Can we pump the brakes here? Can everyone just calm down and have a rational discussion about Clark’s place in the WNBA? Oh, who am I kidding?
Well, hopefully at least some folks will listen to reason from an icon like Abdul-Jabbar.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: What did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar say about Caitlin Clark and the WNBA?
