{"id":699913,"date":"2026-05-28T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699913\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:00:11","slug":"cari-champion-rips-wnba-superstar-caitlin-clark-for-on-court-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699913\/","title":{"rendered":"Cari Champion rips WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark for on-court behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cari Champion recently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/YahooSports\/status\/2060024946621907162?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">sparked conversation<\/a> across the sports world after criticizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/wnba\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WNBA<\/a> star Caitlin Clark during an appearance on the Flagrant and Funny Podcast. As expected, comments involving Clark immediately grabbed headlines and generated strong reactions online from both supporters and critics. Clark has become one of the biggest stars in sports, and with that level of fame comes constant attention, both positive and negative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/caitlin-clark-reflects-on-nerve-wracking-indy-500-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"> Caitlin Clark reflects on nerve-wracking Indy 500 experience<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-od-added-loading=\"\" data-od-removed-fetchpriority=\"high\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='elementor elementor-68004 elementor-location-single post-177071 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-wnba tag-caitlin-clark tag-cari-champion tag-wnba mv-content-wrapper']\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[4][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::PICTURE]\/*[2][self::IMG]\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/default-1447-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-176794\" \/>May 22, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) shoots the ball in the second half against the Golden State Valkyries at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Caitlin Clark Remains One of Sports Biggest Stars<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the last several years, Clark has transformed from a college basketball sensation into one of the faces of the WNBA and one of the most recognizable athletes in America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To many fans, Clark represents the ideal superstar. She draws massive television ratings, sells out arenas, and has helped elevate attention surrounding women\u2019s basketball to levels the sport has rarely seen before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of that popularity, criticism aimed at Clark almost instantly becomes a national conversation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether the comments come from former athletes, media personalities, or current players, anything connected to Clark tends to dominate sports discussions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the podcast appearance, Champion took issue with some of Clark\u2019s on-court behavior, offering criticism that quickly spread across social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As often happens with Clark-related discussions, reactions were divided almost immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some fans defended Champion\u2019s right to voice her opinion, arguing that Clark should not be immune from criticism simply because of her popularity. Others felt the comments were unfair and part of a growing trend of negativity directed toward Clark since entering the professional ranks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That dynamic has become increasingly common around Clark.<\/p>\n<p><img data-od-added-loading=\"\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='elementor elementor-68004 elementor-location-single post-177071 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-wnba tag-caitlin-clark tag-cari-champion tag-wnba mv-content-wrapper']\/*[3][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[17][self::FIGURE]\/*[1][self::IMG]\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/default-1504-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-146757\" \/>May 24, 2024; Long Beach, California, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Everything Around Clark Becomes a Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point, Clark\u2019s celebrity has grown far beyond basketball itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every hard foul, every postgame comment, and every public criticism becomes major news because of the spotlight surrounding her career. Whether the negativity stems from jealousy, frustration, or simply differing opinions, discussions involving Clark rarely stay quiet for long.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That reality comes with being one of the biggest stars in sports \u2014 and Caitlin Clark is clearly there now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories on The Big Lead\u00a0<\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cari Champion recently sparked conversation across the sports world after criticizing WNBA star Caitlin Clark during an appearance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,735,48,254841,82,630],"class_list":["post-699913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-cari-champion","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699913","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=699913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}