Following the Indiana Fever’s 89-77 loss to the Seattle Storm on Thursday night, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston took the podium for the postgame press conference.
The first question was for Clark. So were the second, third and fourth questions. After answering the press conference’s fifth question — which was also directed toward her — the Fever star rookie then urged the reporters in the room to acknowledge Boston’s presence.
“Ask Aliyah a question,” Clark said, motioning toward her teammate.
“I’m good,” Boston said, seemingly disinterested.
“Ask Aliyah a question,” Clark repeated.
Clark’s gesture comes one week after a nice moment between herself and Boston in another postgame press conference, in which the latter interrupted one of Clark’s answers to praise her passing ability. While there’s been unfound speculation that Clark’s teammates resent her due to her star power and race, that clearly doesn’t appear to be the case when it comes to her relationship with Boston, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year.
As for the awkward nature of Clark directing reporters to ask Boston questions, the reality is that such a setting puts both players and reporters in a nearly impossible situation.
For reporters — especially those in Seattle, who might only get to cover the Fever twice this season — it’s understandable that they’d be eager to get a quote from Clark, who is already the WNBA’s most famous player. And for Clark, it’s understandable that she’d both want her teammate to get some attention and not be responsible for answering every question in the press conference. It also puts her in an uncomfortable situation where she can either answer all of the questions directed at her or do what she did on Thursday, which some could view as patronizing.
Truth be told, Clark’s fame is such that this situation is going to be unavoidable in the future as long as she’s answering questions next to anyone. And while it might add some time to the postgame festivities, it would likely benefit all involved for the star rookie to have her own press conferences, especially on the road.
On the bright side, at least no one in the press conference called Aliyah “Alyssa.”
