Safe to say Cheryl Miller, one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, has thrown her support behind Caitlin Clark.
Miller is one of the biggest names in women’s basketball, having starred for the USC Trojans during her collegiate career. She led the team to two national championships and was a three-time National Player of the Year, averaging 23.6 points and 12.0 rebounds a game.
Given Miller knows a thing or two about critics and living up to expectations, she recently hit out at those who continue to take aim at Clark for her race.
“I’m gonna be honest, because it needs to be said,” Miller said on the “All the Smoke” podcast. “I can relate to that young lady, and I felt for her. I know what it’s like to be hated. I know what it’s like to be a black woman and to be hated because of my color. I can’t imagine this young lady, I don’t want to use hate, but despised.
“She brought some on herself, a little bit, because she’s cocky for a good reason. And I love that about her. But to watch the dynamics, and the media, they had their narrative. And I was pleased and proud to see the narrative wasn’t the truth. And Angel [Reese] and her got along so well.”
Clark has been a huge hit in the WNBA
Clark is coming off a debut WNBA campaign for the Indiana Fever that saw her named Rookie of the Year after averaging 19.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
‘Is she getting hyped? Yes,” Miller said. “But she was in the backyard. She was putting in the same time, sometimes maybe more than you were. I can’t fault her for what she was given.”
Clark’s popularity has resulted in a huge increase in the WNBA’s popularity, but she has received plenty of criticism from people who believe she has benefitted from white privilege.
“It’s just the structure of the way media plays out race,” Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson told CNN last year. “I feel really bad because I’ve seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition that they should have, and I think right now, it is time for that to happen.
“You read TIME Magazine, where Caitlin Clark was named athlete of the year, why couldn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said, ‘The WNBA is the league of the year,’ because of all the talent that we have.
“When you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings and now you’re starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don’t want to hear that. We have got to operate and become stronger as a league and respect everyone that’s playing and respect their talents.”
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