On Friday, ahead of their narrow overtime loss against the Las Vegas Aces, Caitlin Clark emphasized that she’s not taking a stance on the trans athlete debate. While addressing the media, Clark said that basketball continues to be her focus, but for NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith, maintaining neutrality wasn’t enough. However, analyst and Courtside Club podcast host Rachel DeMita didn’t agree with Smith’s perspective.

“I saw another clip just today of Stephen A. Smith saying that Caitlin Clark needs to do better. He’s saying that she needs to do better because she’s not saying enough. And it’s like she has said so much. She’s said it so many times that she doesn’t want people using her as a vehicle for their hatred,” DeMita said on the latest episode of the Courtside Club podcast.

“She has denounced racism. She’s denounced hatred. She’s done things behind the scenes even to try to get the women paid more. And it’s like no matter what she does, it will never be enough. And that’s so sad.”

The controversy that Clark was asked to give an opinion about started after her teammate Sophie Cunningham’s interview with ESPN.

“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” Cunningham told Hallie Grossman during their conversation on trans athletes in women’s sports.

Since then, several personalities within and outside the WNBA community, like soccer legend Megan Rapinoe, have responded, either showing support or rejecting Cunningham’s stance.

However, even with the media trying their best to get Caitlin Clark to give her take on the issue, the 24-year-old refused to speak on the issue during Sunday’s press conference after Fever’s 108-100 loss at Minnesota.

“It’s not really a discussion we have in our locker room. It’s for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but my focus is on basketball.”

Then on Friday, ahead of the 86-84 OT loss against Las Vegas, Clark addressed reporters, saying, “I think first and foremost, like you know, you speak when you feel like you want to speak.”

These responses did not satisfy Stephen A. Smith. In his view, Clark has a role to play in the conversation and is not living up to it. 

“She’s a highly intelligent and accomplished young lady. But I do think that you’re 24, you’re intelligent. The people that were calling her names like ‘coward,’ I think that’s a step too far. You’re not a child, you’re not ignorant, nor are you oblivious to what’s going on. If you’re Caitlin Clark, there are contemporaries in the league taking hits because of the narratives and perceptions put out there that drastically favor you. You have to help quell that noise,” Smith said on First Take on Friday.

Smith isn’t the first media personality to criticize Clark, because Megyn Kelly called Clark a “coward” after she didn’t take a stance on Sunday.

Whether Clark stays silent or speaks up, the verdict always seems to be the same: it is never enough. And at some point, that cycle says far more about the people setting the standard than it does about the woman constantly held to it.