Bigoted ‘dwarfs’ can’t stop Caitlin Clark from becoming the rookie GOAT

The biggest impediment to Caitlin Clark’s ascension to athletic immortality is not the gaggle of angry and jealous black women determined to diminish the WNBA star’s rookie season.

Angel Reese, Sheryl Swoopes, Diamond DeShields, Chennedy Carter, Teresa Weatherspoon, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, and the last remnants of black Twitter are no match for Clark’s basketball prowess.

They are the Seven Dwarfs. You need to use Google to remember their names. Sleazy Reese. Grumpy Swoopes. Dopey DeShields. Angry Carter. Bashful Leslie. Weave-y Weatherspoon.

Staley, of course, is the Evil Queen of women’s hoops. She’s the puppet master secretly pulling the strings of bigotry that denied Clark a spot on the Olympic team and fuels the petty commentary surrounding the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year discussion.

But Staley and the Dwarfs are largely powerless and ineffectual. Clark can handle the haters. Her stellar play has exposed the bitter as frauds. Clark’s real obstacles are her lovers, the mob of fans triggered by Dwarfs. They want to turn their idol into a victim.

A victimhood mentality could derail Caitlin Clark’s historic season. It could prevent Clark from reaching her full potential this year. Clark has a chance to put together the greatest rookie season in the history of professional sports.

Show White must stand in front of the Magic Mirror and evaluate her play. If she does that, she’ll dwarf Jackie, Gretzky, Brown, Wilt, and Iron Mike.

Read it again: Clark's could be the greatest, most impactful, most impressive rookie season in the history of pro sports.

She could do what Michael Jordan couldn’t. What Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did not do. Neither did Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Babe Ruth, or Tiger Woods.

If Clark leads the Fever to the WNBA title in October, she will have completed the most impressive rookie season in the history of pro sports, snatching the distinction from Jackie Robinson or Jim Brown or Wayne Gretzky or Wilt Chamberlain or Mike Tyson.

Here’s how I rank the greatest rookie seasons.

1. Jackie Robinson: At age 28 in 1947, Robinson hit .297, finished fifth in MVP voting, won MLB Rookie of the Year, and the Dodgers lost the World Series 4-3 to the Yankees.
2. Wayne Gretzky: At age 19 in the 1979-80 NHL season, Gretzky led the league in scoring (51 goals, 86 assists), won the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP), and led the expansion Oilers to the playoffs.
3. Jim Brown: At age 21 in 1957, Brown led the NFL in rushing, won the MVP award and NFL Rookie of the Year, and lost the championship to the Lions.
4. Wilt Chamberlain: At age 23 in the 1959-60 NBA season, Chamberlain led the league in minutes, scoring (37.6), and rebounding (27), won the MVP award and NBA Rookie of the Year, and lost in the second round of the playoffs.
5. Mike Tyson: At age 18 and 19 in 1985, Tyson fought 15 times in a 10-month span, winning all the fights by knockout or technical knockout. He single-handedly reignited the sport of boxing.

The Indiana Fever finished 13-27 a year ago, the third-worst record in the WNBA. The Fever stand at 17-16 this season with seven games to play. They’re the hottest team in the league since the Olympic break. They can win it all this season, if — and only if — Clark continues to elevate her efficiency and basketball IQ. Despite averaging 18.7 points and leading the WNBA in assists (8.4), Clark hasn’t come close to peak performance yet.

A victim mentality would prevent her from making the necessary improvements.

Her fans could give her that mentality, if they continue to cry about things that don’t really matter and shield Clark from objective criticism.

Clark is lazy on defense, spends way too much time whining to the referees, loses focus with her ball handling and passing, and lapses into chucking the ball up from deep early in the shot clock.

Clark’s shortcomings need to be discussed publicly. It will force her to address them. But it’s difficult to do in the current environment. Her supporters interpret any and all criticism as unfair bigotry or jealousy.

It’s a natural reaction. You see someone you love mistreated, and you leap to protect them. The problem is Clark doesn’t need protection. She’s not fragile. She’s not weak. She’s prepared and strong.

She buried Angel Reese in Chicago last week. The Fever blew out the Sky on Friday. On a night when Dopey DeShields delivered three cheap shots, Clark posted 31 points and 12 assists in a 19-point victory. Show White exited the game to a round of applause and then sat and watched Sleazy Reese pad her stats in the final 90 seconds. Sleazy, Dopey, Angry Carter, and their coach, Weave-y Weatherspoon, have lost eight of their last 10 games. The Sky are tied for the last playoff spot with Atlanta.

Caitlin Clark does not need our protection from Chicago, not from the Sky, and not from Lisa Leslie, who posted on Sunday that Clark and Reese should share rookie of the year. It’s a ridiculous contention. Reese is an elite rebounder whose rebounding has not made Chicago a better team. Clark is an elite basketball player who has made the Fever significantly better.

Clark’s transformation of the Fever into the best offensive team, the best passing team, and the No. 6 seed for the playoffs tells the whole story. We don’t even have to compare individual statistics. Clark beats Reese in every category except rebounding.

The Dwarfs are bigoted and jealous.

Grumpy Swoopes is the worst. Instead of riding Clark to relevance, she’s riding Clark to career suicide. The former WNBA star-turned-broadcaster has talked her way off the Clark gravy train. The league removed Grumpy from the broadcast of Sunday’s Indiana-Dallas game. Swoopes is so filled with jealousy she can’t be trusted to call Clark’s games in a fair manner. Nancy Lieberman replaced Swoopes and immediately called BS on the contrived Clark-Reese rookie battle.

“By far, she’s going to be rookie of the year, if anybody thinks she’s not, feel free to call me or hit me on Instagram or Twitter,” Lieberman said.

In the aftermath of Swoopes’ latest Clark controversy, Swoopes blasted Lieberman on X, posted screenshots of a February text exchange between herself and Clark, and lashed out at Clark’s fans.

Look at these posts:

“Now here you go! I get what you trying to do with ya boy Stephen A. Smith but it ain’t working. You know good and well what happened. And ditto ... my life is good without you too (and him). You wanna go there?”
“FYI, I was never supposed to do the game. Also, I do not hate Caitlin. It’s a lot of her fans that are just flat out mean and evil.”
“I appreciate that. Please know that I do not dislike or hate her. I like her game too. It’s all of the ugly fans that I don’t care for. Thank you.”

This is a catastrophic meltdown. She’s throwing away her reputation and friendships. It’s Caitlin Derangement Syndrome. It’s unchecked bigotry and jealousy.

It’s Sheryl Swoopes’ problem, not Caitlin Clark's.

Swoopes’ derangement will not stop Clark from reaching her full potential.

Show White must stand in front of the Magic Mirror and evaluate her play. If she does that, she’ll dwarf Jackie, Gretzky, Brown, Wilt, and Iron Mike.