The WNBA’s CBA delay is off-putting for many fans in the league who have just invested following the surge in popularity. But even before that, the league received huge criticism for its physicality and inconsistent officiating, which irked many fans. Many pointed at the hard fouls and close-up defensive plays against Caitlin Clark as the league’s own strategy to diminish her stardom.
An Indiana Fever analyst also slammed the league for the physical play against Clark, with her complete breakdown of different plays. But on Rachel DeMita’s ‘The Courtside Club’ podcast, a WNBA insider denied such claims and even gave recent examples to prove her point.
WNBA Is Not Physical Only For Caitlin Clark
The podcast host, Rachel DeMita, pointed out the officiating issues that often lead to physical play in the league during her discussion with guest Annie Constabile. But the WNBA insider denied that the league is physical only for CC.
“I know everyone thinks this is all about Caitlin, but across the league this has been an ISSUE. Go back to Candace’s rookie year, there’s a game she gets laid out. It’s crazy what they all went through… The attention on the league now is forcing the league’s hand,” Annie Constabile said.
The refereeing and physicality in the WNBA needs to change.
— Courtside Club (@CourtsideClub_) February 6, 2026
“I know everyone thinks this is all about Caitlin, but across the league this has been an ISSUE. Go back to Candace’s rookie year, there’s a game she gets laid out. It’s crazy what they all went through… The attention… pic.twitter.com/OhOW4CVHTT
In the fans’ defence, they saw hard fouls and intense physical plays on CC more often, statistically nearly one-fifth of flagrant fouls were against the Fever guard in her rookie season, While they take Clark’s name to highlight number of instances of such occurrences, they never supported such gameplay and demanded to stop allowing such ‘style of basketball’ to allow players to flourish on the court.
Scroll to continue reading
Trending WNBA News
In reality, the player suffered injuries from such physical plays and missed a significant portion of her second season. But now she has an exciting update for her fans.
Caitlin Clark With Exciting Season 3 Update
The Fever star found huge success with her NBC debut in the NBA pregame segment. With her expert opinion and takes about the game, WNBA life, CBA, and her inspiration from the NBA, she also spoke about her health and next season.
“I was just looking back at some old videos from when I was at Iowa and I can just tell how much my body’s changed in a good way…I only appeared in 13 games last year so I’m itching to get back…and I got USA basketball coming up,” Clark said.
Caitlin on year 3
— correlation (@nosyone4) February 2, 2026
“I was just looking back at some old videos from when I was at Iowa and I can just tell how much my body’s changed in a good way…I only appeared in 13 games last year so I’m itching to get back…and I got USA basketball coming up.”
WE CAN’T WAIT pic.twitter.com/SC4JfzRCZF
Fans were happy to see Clark participating in the USA basketball training camp, and now her update will further encourage them.