The WNBA discourse around Caitlin Clark has reached a point where it is no longer just about basketball. It’s been about a week since Alyssa Thomas pushed her fist into Clark’s neck and got suspended. Yet, the debate has snowballed from being about officiating and player safety to impact, visibility, and how the league’s biggest draw is being treated.

With former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho sharing his controversial take that Caitlin Clark is not part of the solution for the league but the problem itself, WNBA analyst Rachel DeMita has come to the 24-year-old’s defense.

“I just can’t believe that we’ve gotten to this point where it’s just okay to be so blatantly disrespectful to a player who literally elevated the entire league,” DeMita said on her latest podcast episode. “I think it’s so unfair. I think it’s so cruel. We wouldn’t do this to any other players. We don’t do this to any other player.

“She came to the league playing her game, being herself, and a lot of fans were attracted to that. She has a superstardom of a K-pop star, she has a global appeal. The disrespect she has gotten over the years from so many, I just don’t understand it.

“Could you imagine saying that to any other superstar who came into a league and transformed it the way that she did? Could you imagine saying that to Michael Jordan? ‘Thank you so much for changing the landscape of this league. But you know it’s too much of a circus regarding you, and so you can go now. We have better players now.’ It’s not only blatantly disrespectful to her. It’s also blatantly disrespectful to the entire league because in that statement in itself, you admitted that you’ve never watched before her, but now that she got you to watch, now she can go.”

Clarkonomics literally converted a league that was losing fan interest into the biggest business in the nation in her rookie season. Not only did attendance and sales grow for every team as she pushed them into bigger arenas during the Fever’s games, but the WNBA has seen a steady growth ever since. And as Stephen A. Smith once put it, not protecting Clark would mean you’re killing your golden goose. If the league needs to change its rules for that, it won’t be an alien concept.

Just take the high-five rule that the NBA recently introduced to protect jump shooters like Stephen Curry, who would have one of the biggest advantages now. No opponent can jump high enough and hit him on his hand, knowing that it won’t be called. But Acho had a strong take.

“The W, at this junction in time, would be better without Caitlin Clark, because she is a bigger distraction than she is an additive,” he said on the Speakeasy show. “Caitlin Clark has gotten the WNBA over the necessary threshold they needed. Now people are watching. Now we realize, ‘Oh, there’s talent in the W — talent that’s actually even greater than Caitlin Clark.’

“Caitlin got the necessary eyes there. But now that the eyes are there, we don’t necessarily need her anymore.”

This whole debate caught fire after a viral incident where Alyssa Thomas made contact with Caitlin Clark’s throat, and it went uncalled by the referees. On the backdrop was the WNBA’s decision to leave her off of its 30th anniversary poster, which celebrated stars that helped the league grow. While that may have been due to the licensing with Fanatics, and the league does have stars, it has never had someone put eyes on them. Something that Clark brought with her.

Clark has been at the center of constant scrutiny ever since she entered the league in 2024. Almost every game involving her became part of a larger conversation about how the league treats one of its biggest stars, especially after her teammate and head coach voiced their concerns.

“This type of s— happens every single game to her, and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it,”* Sophie Cunningham said, pointing to the Thomas-Clark incident during the recent episode of Show Me Something.

“She is not called the same way everybody else is called,” Stephanie White said, calling out the inconsistency of officiating involving her star guard.

However, at this point, the discussion is no longer just about the attention she brought, the missed call, or physicality in the WNBA. It has shifted into a broader debate over whether one star is being treated differently from others. What it ultimately means for the league’s future remains uncertain, as the conversation continues to grow with no clear resolution in sight. But DeMita is certainly not wrong in one aspect:

“By admitting that (Clark has grown the league), we’re not putting down other players.”