NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s claim that Caitlin Clark has become a political football in this country was spot on, Stephen A. Smith told a live audience on Friday at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Now the ESPN host is pleading with the WNBA to accept that reality and proceed with caution.
‘The commissioner is absolutely right: it’s political ping pong,’ Smith said at Fanatics Fest 2026, where The Daily Mail was on hand for a live taping of ESPN’s First Take. ‘But here’s where I put some culpability on the shoulders of the players. It’s about time you know that.’
As has been the case over her first two WNBA seasons, the Indiana Fever guard has been at the center of controversy over race, privilege and league officiating. Last month, Phoenix Mercury veteran Alyssa Thomas appeared to punch Clark in the throat during a scrum for a loose ball, and although she wasn’t whistled for a foul at the time, Thomas was later suspended by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s office for one game.
That suspension was seen as insufficient in some circles, where Clark is viewed as the victim of jealousy and anti-white racism in a largely Black league, and a hasty overreaction in others.
‘As players, you got to see the forest through the trees,’ Smith told his audience. ‘Nobody is saying it’s right. Nobody is saying it’s right for people to use the Caitlin Clark’s presence… as political ping pong.
‘But damn it, they use everything they can as political ping pong in today’s generation.’
NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s claim that Caitlin Clark has become a political football in this country was spot on, Stephen A. Smith told a live audience on Friday at the Javits Center
Fever star Caitlin Clark was punched in the throat by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas
As has been the case over her first two WNBA seasons, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been at the center of controversy over race, privilege and league officiating
For their part, Thomas has claimed the punch was accidental, while Clark has bemoaned the league’s officiating, calling for more consistency on hard fouls.
To Smith’s point, both Thomas and Clark need to be careful about what they say in this climate. Thomas has already reported racist threats against her and her family in response to the controversy, and as Smith explained, any commentary players provide can result in more unwanted attention.
‘You’ve got literally stuff going on in our politics right now where every little thing you say and do is utilized to give somebody an advantage over another,’ he said. ‘Why? Because we’re in a binary system, and when it’s time to go to the polls, you can only go one or two ways. They know that.
‘So you have a Caitlin Clark, and it’s this white girl that can really, really ball, that’s box office… and goes out there and galvanizes an audience in a way that she’s generating ratings that nobody else generates, even though the league is rife with phenomenal players, phenomenal talent that spent years building up the league,’ he continued. ‘She’s the cash cow.
‘What was I saying over the last year and a half? Yo, a rising tide lifts all boats. Ride that wave.
‘But in the same breath, make sure to ingratiate yourself along the way, so you’re not viewed as quote unquote the enemy or viewing her as the enemy, because there’s a contingent out there that’s going to look at her just because of her ethnicity and being in the WNBA, and they’re going to say, “Oh, she’s being victimized. Why is she being targeted?'”
‘And that’s where the political ping pong comes from, because all of a sudden, in the climate that we’re living in, they’re going to say this is what it is to cause the divide.’
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (left) called the Clark controversy ‘political football’ while Cathy Engelbert (right) recently cancelled an interview on the subject with Dan Patrick
One way to help the situation, according to Smith, is for Engelbert to step up and meet the controversy head on, as opposed to cancelling interviews as she recently did with podcaster and legendary former ESPN host, Dan Patrick.
Instead of speaking with Patrick at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Engelbert instead hit the practice green, where she was filmed chipping during her scheduled interview.
‘When you bring up the commissioner, let’s not forget what a bad look it is that you have an interview with Dan Patrick, and you avoid that interview, and they catch you playing golf… 20 feet away… from where you’re supposed to do the damn interview,’ Smith said.
‘You know when you got a commissioner that’s ducking for cover instead of standing front and center and really handling her business — as you know the chief executive of the league — that’s a problem.
‘So certainly her leadership is questionable at this particular moment in time. Cathy Engelbert needs to get her act together. It’s just that simple.’
