{"id":229281,"date":"2025-10-21T12:02:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/229281\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T12:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:02:16","slug":"caitlin-clark-is-taylor-swift-2-0-fever-coach-stephanie-white-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/229281\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark is ‘Taylor Swift 2.0’ Fever coach Stephanie White says"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Caitlin Clark<\/a>\u2019s name, in and of itself, has a lot of pull. Whether it be in the WNBA<\/a>, in collective bargaining negotiations<\/a>, in promotions for different brands<\/a>, just her name can bring unprecedented engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It reminds Fever<\/a> coach Stephanie White<\/a> of another megastar. One that, ironic or not, is one of Clark\u2019s longtime idols.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt literally is like Taylor Swift<\/a> 2.0, and because of that, her name gets thrown into a lot of conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with her, or her interests, and or our team or sport, or whatever,\u201d White told IndyStar on a\u00a0Fever Insider Podcast episode launching Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cAnd she is a 23 year-old kid who loves to play this game, who loves her teammates, who loves to compete, you know, at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, it can make sense for people to use Clark\u2019s name to make their points. She\u2019s a global superstar, bringing sold-out crowds to WNBA games across the country and making every game, no matter the location, feel like a home game. An economist estimated that Clark accounted for 1 in 6 tickets sold<\/a> in the league in her rookie season in 2024.<\/p>\n

Clark brings engagement. Heads move when her name is mentioned. But what isn\u2019t considered, White said, is how using her name affects Clark\u2019s real life. White first mentioned that Clark was used as a \u201cpawn in other people\u2019s games\u201d<\/a> on the radio show Query and Company, then expounded on her comments.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unfortunate side effect to the amount of fame Clark has, White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer name grabs attention,\u201d White said. \u201cHer name is clickbait. Her name is utilized in a way that very few people and athletes are. It’s in the same sphere as LeBron (James), as Serena Williams, as Tiger Woods, as Taylor Swift. I wish that Caitlin was able to just live her life however, but with the things that she’s accomplished, there’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of attention that comes, because she’s elite at what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynx forward and WNBA players\u2019 union vice president Napheesa Collier took advantage of Clark\u2019s stardom a few weeks ago when she read an explosive statement <\/a>lambasting the league following Minnesota\u2019s elimination from the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She criticized commissioner Cathy Engelbert<\/a> on officiating, negotiations, and the state of the league as the WNBA and players union are in the heat of new CBA negotiations. During that statement,.she mentioned Clark, along with fellow young players Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, by name, even mentioning the sponsorship money Clark receives.<\/p>\n

“I also asked how she planned to fix the fact that Caitlin, Angel (Reese) and Paige (Bueckers), who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years,\u201d Collier said. \u201cHer response was \u2018Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t be making anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier did not tell anyone, including Clark<\/a> or the players\u2019 union executive committee, that she was going to make that statement. IndyStar looked into that alleged claim,<\/a> and found it untrue \u2014 Clark had multiple high-level sponsorships, including those with Hy-Vee and Nike, before she was part of the WNBA.<\/p>\n

Engelbert denied she made those comments about Clark in a regularly scheduled news conference before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, three days after Collier’s statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I did not make those comments,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cCaitlin has been a transformational player in this league. She’s been a great representative of the game. She’s brought in tens of millions of new fans to the game, proud of what she’s put on the court. Unfortunately, the injuries held her back from a full season this year \u2026 There’s a lot of inaccuracies reported out there, and I certainly did not say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, there were rumors swirling about Clark\u2019s endorsement money, her role in CBA negotiations and how she\u2019s viewed by league leadership, for multiple days following Collier\u2019s comments. All to no fault of the Fever star \u2014 she wasn\u2019t even aware that it was going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But it\u2019s something she always handles with grace.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe handles it in a way that I’m not sure most 23 year olds would. I’m really proud of her,\u201d White said. \u201cObviously her parents and her family have done such a great job in helping prepare her for this. Most would not be able to handle it in the way that she does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at\u00a0@chloepeterson67<\/a>.\u00a0 Subscribe to\u00a0IndyStar’s YouTube page<\/a>\u00a0for Fever Insiders Live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Caitlin Clark\u2019s name, in and of itself, has a lot of pull. Whether it be in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[1338,62,76,461,49,7075,735,48,361,1346,7076,8520,1322,75,6003,1321,5904,2803,1337,1348,8519,729,2034,44,1333,2042,82,865,1320,1339,12409,12408,7223,39,1335,630,4134,4143],"class_list":["post-229281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-affiliate","tag-ai","tag-arts","tag-basketball","tag-ca","tag-caitlin","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-clark","tag-collier","tag-enabled","tag-entertainment","tag-fever","tag-highlights","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-fever","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-napheesa","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-swift","tag-taylor","tag-taylor-swift","tag-top-stories","tag-u0026","tag-wnba","tag-womens","tag-womens-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}