{"id":338596,"date":"2025-12-11T08:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T08:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338596\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T08:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T08:05:08","slug":"aja-wilson-says-fanfare-around-caitlin-clark-erased-wnba-history-for-a-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338596\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019ja Wilson Says Fanfare Around Caitlin Clark Erased WNBA History For A Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> has received several accolades in basketball this year, including her fourth league MVP, her third WNBA championship, and WNBA Finals MVP. Her popularity has continued to soar off the court as she was named Time\u2019s Athlete of the Year this week. Wilson reflected on the popularity of the WNBA over the past few years and shared her thoughts on the focus having almost exclusively been put on Caitlin Clark<\/a> for a time.<\/p>\n

A\u2019ja Wilson said the WNBA is popular outside of Caitlin Clark<\/p>\n

National interest in women\u2019s basketball exploded during the 2023 NCAA championship, particularly after Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese went viral for their face-off on the court. Both players started playing professionally when they were recruited in the 2024 WNBA draft. The spotlight was largely put on Clark when she joined the Indiana Fever and became one of the best players to watch in the league.<\/p>\n

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Although Wilson doesn\u2019t negate the impact that Clark has had on the league, she wants to remind everyone that the WNBA grew in popularity thanks to contributions from other athletes as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a hit at me, because I\u2019m going to do me regardless. I\u2019m going to win this MVP, I\u2019ll win a gold medal, y\u2019all can\u2019t shake my r\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u201d Wilson told Time<\/a>. \u201cIt was more so, let\u2019s not lose the recipe. Let\u2019s not lose the history. It was erased for a minute. And I don\u2019t like that. Because we have tons of women that have been through the grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark was injured and missed most of the 2025 season. Yet, viewership across ESPN networks still grew by roughly five to six percent per game, according to Complex<\/a>. To Wilson, this showed the power that the league \u2013 and other players \u2013 hold on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you need a proof in the pudding,\u201d Wilson said, adding that she does not cheer on Clark\u2019s injury, according to Time. \u201cThe biggest thing for us, and why I was so happy, is that we continue to rise to the occasion. This was just a matter of time for us to really bloom and blossom. Because we have been invested in each other and our craft for a very long time. It was just like, \u2018They\u2019re going to pay attention.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark admitted to receiving privilege \u2018as a white person\u2019 in the WNBA<\/p>\n

Time named Clark as its Athlete of the Year in 2024. At the time, she acknowledged privilege tied to her ace despite having earned every accolade due to her work and talent. Clark also noted that the WNBA has largely been built by Black players.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want to say I\u2019ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,\u201d she previously told Time<\/a>. \u201cA lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark also called on brands and companies to partner with more Black WNBA players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it\u2019s very important,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that\u2019s going to be a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post A\u2019ja Wilson Says Fanfare Around Caitlin Clark Erased WNBA History For A Moment<\/a> appeared first on Blavity<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u2019ja Wilson has received several accolades in basketball this year, including her fourth league MVP, her third WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4662,724,49,735,48,2803,82,630,82271,11043],"class_list":{"0":"post-338596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aja-wilson","9":"tag-angel-reese","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-caitlin-clark","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-indiana-fever","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-wnba","16":"tag-wnba-championship","17":"tag-wnba-players"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338596","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=338596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}