{"id":78458,"date":"2024-05-22T21:52:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T01:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=78458"},"modified":"2024-05-22T22:29:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T02:29:02","slug":"nba-lebron-james-why-rooting-caitlin-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/22\/nba-lebron-james-why-rooting-caitlin-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Legend Reveals Why He\u2019s \u2018Rooting for\u2019 Caitlin Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/08\/lebron-james-dawn-staley-speak-out-future-no-1-pick-caitlin-clark\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">come to the defense<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/c\/clarkca02w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caitlin Clark<\/a>, appearing on his and friend JJ Redick\u2019s <em>Mind the Game<\/em> podcast to give an impassioned speech about the heralded rookie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing that I love that she\u2019s bringing to (women\u2019s basketball), more people want to watch,\u201d James says. \u201cMore people want to tune in.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Here\u2019s what <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingJames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@KingJames<\/a> has to say about <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaitlinClark22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CaitlinClark22<\/a> and the hate that she has received during her time in the WNBA.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full episode with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jj_redick?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@jj_redick<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5hyyY2bIhe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/5hyyY2bIhe<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/db4Jvj7OFD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/db4Jvj7OFD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mind the Game (@mindthegamepod) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mindthegamepod\/status\/1793273106150351023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t get it twisted,\u201d he continues. \u201cCaitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things is gonna happen for the WNBA. But for her individually, I don\u2019t think she should get involved in nothing that\u2019s being said. Just go, have fun, enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>LeBron James Reveals Why He\u2019s \u2018Rooting for\u2019 Caitlin Clark<\/h2>\n<p>The first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Clark has entered the league with more fanfare than anyone. In anticipation of her arrival, WNBA teams were trying to find venues with a larger crowd capacity. Before she played a single game, she had a signature shoe deal.<\/p>\n<p>However, while Clark\u2019s critical acclaim has led to celebrity status, she\u2019s also faced an extraordinary amount of criticism. For most, it\u2019s because of a fan-made rivalry between her and former LSU forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/r\/reesean01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Angel Reese<\/a> (drafted seventh overall by the Chicago Sky). For some, it\u2019s because Clark\u2019s a media darling, receiving more attention for her play than any other player.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are those who dislike Clark because they believe the attention and accommodations women\u2019s basketball players are now receiving are long overdue. This group isn\u2019t unreasonable to believe that women\u2019s basketball is underfunded (at any level). Nor are they wrong to say that amenities such as chartered flights should have existed before Clark was drafted.<\/p>\n<p>However, in all the fuss, it seems to be lost upon basketball fans that Clark didn\u2019t ask for the media to focus on her coverage. The fact that Clark\u2019s star power is a good thing, that it leading to the very attention, support, and luxuries that they\u2019ve long been asking for is a positive outcome, eludes them as well.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018I\u2019ve Walked That Road Before\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201c\u2026I\u2019m rooting for Caitlin because I\u2019ve been in that seat before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When James was preparing to get drafted, he was already being compared to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a>. While there are many fans who were excited about the possibility. Indeed, a new generation of basketball fans came along with James. Yet, diehard Jordan fans took it as an excuse to create a rivalry. To this day, the mere mention of James might lead to a \u2014let\u2019s say <em>spirited<\/em> \u2014debate about who\u2019s better.<\/p>\n<p>A few years into his career, James began taking his destiny into his own hands, wielding his influence in a way that gave him power comparable to front office executives. A lot of people didn\u2019t like it, including current and former players.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, ever since James trailblazed the \u2018player empowerment era,\u2019 the league has been better off for it. Players aren\u2019t treating their basketball contracts like marriage vows anymore, looking at their careers like people in any other field. The league has made more money than ever because of the media deals. However, the media deals became richer because the Superteam Era was intense.<\/p>\n<p>James and Clark\u2019s stories aren\u2019t an exact parallel, but when he says \u201cI\u2019ve walked that road before,\u201d he means it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James continues to come to the defense of Caitlin Clark, appearing on his and friend JJ Redick\u2019s Mind the Game podcast to give an impassioned speech about the heralded rookie. \u201cThe one thing that I love that she\u2019s bringing to (women\u2019s basketball), more people want to watch,\u201d James says. \u201cMore people want to tune [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":78468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,3],"tags":[49157,49063,38,1632],"class_list":["post-78458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-angel-reese","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-lebron-james","tag-wnba"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}