Defending Caitlin Clark can attract fierce backlash from the opposition. And a WNBA journalist found that out the hard way when she defended her against a basketball page that highlighted and criticized Clark\u2019s defensive output across the Fever\u2019s preseason games.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Noa Dalzell tweeted: \u201cThis isn\u2019t even the best example. But it sucks that one of the biggest women\u2019s basketball accounts on Twitter constantly throws shots at one player.\u201d What followed was a wave of criticism directed at her, not necessarily for being wrong, but for simply backing Clark.<\/p>\n
The Indiana Fever have played two preseason games so far in 2026, holding a 1-1 record. Their opener against the New York Liberty ended in a win. However, the second game resulted in an 80-95 loss to the Dallas Wings<\/a>. Of course, on the offensive end, Clark was a genuine presence across both outings, averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game. Her second game performance drew plenty of admiration.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n However, on the defensive side, the numbers were not as impressive. She had 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks, and 2.5 defensive rebounds per game across both contests. That\u2019s what prompted the criticism from the page in question, which posed whether the star guard could do a better job of keeping opposing guards from getting downhill. And on the surface, it\u2019s not an entirely unreasonable thing to ask.<\/p>\n But the answer isn\u2019t as clean as a simple yes or no. In coach Stephanie White\u2019s offensive system, the team heavily relies on Clark to push the pace. They need her to space the floor and create advantages for everyone around her. That role demands energy conservation. So if Clark is grinding through every screen and chasing ball handlers with the intensity of a defensive specialist, she risks losing the legs needed for those deep transition threes and off-the-dribble pull-ups that make her so uniquely dangerous. Her value, at its core, is in the gravity she creates offensively and how that gravity elevates every teammate on the floor.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the only person best positioned to answer this question is White<\/a>. If she determines that the Fever\u2019s success requires Clark to invest more on the defensive end, she will ask her to do that. And if she decides that maximizing Clark\u2019s offensive output is the greater priority for this team\u2019s chances, that will guide the approach instead.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a legitimate tactical conversation, but one that probably deserves more nuance than a pointed social media post allows for. But what do you think? Should Clark do more defensively, or is her offensive impact enough to justify the trade-off?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Fans didn\u2019t spare WNBA journalist Noa Dalzell for defending Caitlin Clark<\/p>\n One might wonder what exactly drew the backlash Noa Dalzell received for her defense of Caitlin Clark<\/a>. Was it because her opinion was factually wrong? Or because the original criticism of Clark\u2019s defensive output was so accurate that defending her was indefensible? Turns out the fans who came for Dalzell weren\u2019t really arguing either of those points.<\/p>\n The core grievance was something different entirely: selectivity. The prevailing sentiment among her critics was that Dalzell would never have shown up with the same energy had the player in question not been Clark. \u201cNow let me scroll your page and see if you have this energy for ANY other woman in the league that spit on them,\u201d one fan wrote pointedly. Another was equally direct: \u201cShut up, stop having selective outrage! Keep that same energy for all those other pages! Grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n And in what is perhaps the most predictable turn the discourse could have taken, it didn\u2019t take long for Angel Reese<\/a> to enter the conversation. Fans drew the comparison swiftly, arguing that Dalzell had not shown up with similar conviction when Reese faced criticism or targeted commentary over the years. \u201cTeach your girl how to squabble. Not sure I ever saw you standing up for Angel with the vitriol that has been thrown her way the last three years,\u201d one fan said.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The calls for consistency even extended beyond Reese. They also brought other players into the argument to reinforce the same point. \u201cIf you can ignore Azzi and Angel getting clipped, then you can ignore this,\u201d one fan said. Another fan, who also captured the broader message, wrote: \u201cHold up, I hope you\u2019ve been busy the last 48 hours exposing the other pages, posting lowlights of another player. Cause if not, politely STFU, ma\u2019am. We don\u2019t want to hear it.\u201d The expectation was clear: if you\u2019re not willing to call it out every time, for every player, then staying silent is the more honest option.<\/p>\n But then, whether Dalzell has genuinely been selective in her coverage over her two to three years as a WNBA journalist is a question that\u2019s difficult to answer definitively without a thorough audit of her work. However, regardless of where the truth lies, she has found herself in a no-win situation that public figures in sports media frequently stumble into.<\/p>\n The post WNBA Journalist Faces Strong Backlash For Publicly Defending Caitlin Clark<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending Caitlin Clark can attract fierce backlash from the opposition. 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