The Chennedy Carter hard foul on Caitlin Clark in Saturday’s Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever WNBA clash has sparked a million discussions. Those have ranged from Carter’s decision to decline comment to media afterwards (before she chimed in on social media) to her teammate Angel Reese’s reaction to the foul and then decision not to appear before media at all (which drew her and the team a fine) to the WNBA’s upgrade of that foul from common to flagrant.
But a growing discussion isn’t about the Sky at all, but about Clark’s Fever teammates. And Mike Golic added to that with commentary on his GoJo and Golic DraftKings Network show with his son Mike Golic Jr. Monday. There, Golic (known for his decades as a sports media host, but it’s worth remembering that he first played defensive line at Notre Dame and then with the Indianapolis Colts) questioned why Clark’s teammates didn’t have a more notable response to Carter’s foul.
.@golic wants to know: Where were Caitlin Clark’s teammates when she was taking a shot from Chennedy Carter?
“I’m sorry, someone’s got to get in the face & get physical with Chennedy…I mean you gotta defend your teammate” pic.twitter.com/7aX12LTRJm
— DraftKings Network (@DKNetwork) June 3, 2024
“I think it’s an issue. I don’t care if it’s Caitlin Clark, I don’t care who it is, I don’t care what teammate gets smoked like that in a cheap shot. I’ll also say again that’s the only thing we saw, we’ve got Caitlin Clark throwing some ‘bows as well. She’s not clean in all of this either. I’m not going to sit here and go nuts on what Chennedy did.
“Was it a non-basketball play? Yes. Should it deserve a flagrant-one, yes. And that was her choice to do. But coming from a team sport, man, her teammates not jumping in there…and I get there’s two sides to it. This turned out to be a close game, if you retaliate, you’re going to give the other team a chance to stay in it or get caught up, I forget what the score was at this point, but it was a close game. There is that side of it.
“But to see nobody jump in her face — and whoever was inbounding, I couldn’t see who was inbounding, was standing right there and just started walking over to Caitlin Clark. I’m sorry, man. Someone’s got to get in the face and get physical with Chennedy. Someone’s got to drop her when she’s going to the basket. I mean, you’ve got to defend your teammate.
“Mike, this is right up the o-lineman’s alley. My god, somebody touches a quarterback wrong, and if every offensive lineman isn’t over there trying to dismember the defensive player that did it, you’ve got issues with it. So yeah, things are going to happen.
“And for those that are saying ‘Oh man, why are people treating Caitlin Clark this way? She’s helped this league so much,’ just knock that stuff off, all right? She’s a big-time rookie coming into the league. It’s what happens in a lot of leagues, you get tested, you get knocked around, that’s just how it goes. But your teammates have got to step up for you.”
Golic is far from the first person to bring this up. Famed NBA enforcer Matt Barnes has weighed in on this front as well, asking ‘Where the f*** are her teammates at?’ There have also been criticisms of Clark’s Fever teammates from Draymond Green, Matt Leinart, Doug Gottlieb and more. But it’s notable to see Golic bring this up and reference his own playing experience.
