Former Fox Sports host Emmanuel Acho believes that Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is causing more harm than good to the WNBA.
Clark has been one of the most popular individual athletes in women’s sports for years – carrying her fans over from a successful college career to her time in professional basketball.
But there’s been increased scrutiny on Clark – especially this season – in light of accusations of flopping and complaining to officials.
Recently, Clark has been at the center of another controversy after she was hit in the throat by Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas as they both dove for a loose ball. Officials didn’t call a foul at the time, but retroactively assessed a flagrant II foul and suspended Thomas.
As the WNBA remains silent on the issue – outside of the suspension – it’s left pundits and broadcasters to try and make sense of the matter.
Acho did just that on an episode of his Speakeasy show, claiming that Clark is no longer needed to boost the sport’s popularity.
Emmanuel Acho believes Caitlin Clark is causing the WNBA more trouble than she’s worth
This comes after the controversy with Clark being hit in the throat by Alyssa Thomas
Acho believes the circus surrounding Clark is causing bigger headaches than are necessary
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Is Caitlin Clark’s impact on the WNBA helping or hurting the league’s growth and reputation?
‘The W, at this junction in time, would be better without Caitlin Clark, because she is a bigger distraction than she is an additive,’ the former NFL player said on his show.
‘Caitlin Clark has gotten the WNBA over the necessary threshold they needed. Now people are watching. Now we realize, oh, there’s talent in the W — talent that’s actually even greater than Caitlin Clark… Caitlin got the necessary eyes there. But now that the eyes are there, we don’t necessarily need her anymore.’
Bizarrely, Acho decided to compare Clark to Moses from the Old Testament of the Bible – saying she led the league ‘out of the wilderness’ in 2024 to bring it to the point it is now. But with stars like Olivia Miles, A’ja Wilson and Paige Bueckers taking up shares of the spotlight, the league could go without Clark.
‘Respectfully, Caitlin did what only Caitlin could do, and we don’t necessarily need her to do anymore,’ Acho said. ‘Thank you, Caitlin. We can take it from here.’
Acho clarified that he doesn’t have a particular issue with Clark herself, more the circus around her and how there is constant scrutiny of officials, the media and the league whenever she features.
‘Now you’re saying the WNBA needs to be cognizant of where they put Caitlin Clark on posters. The WNBA and the officials need to alter the rules for Caitlin Clark. The WNBA and opposing players need to treat Caitlin Clark more gently,’ Acho said.
‘You’re getting general managers fired, head coaches fired, commissioners fired, social media teams fired, all because we have to cradle this woman.’
He added, ‘Unless we can take off our gloves for Caitlin Clark and stop trying to act like she’s a messiah, the WNBA could and would be better off without Caitlin Clark – at least without this version of everybody coddling and caressing and catering to Caitlin Clark.’
