Late in the Fever’s 92-75 win over the Storm on Sunday in Indiana , Clark was cheering on her home fans when she was bumped by six-time All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith, with many accusing her of intentionally crashing into her opponent.
And Sharpe came to Clark’s defense later on his “Night Cap” podcast with Chad Johnson, urging the former Iowa star’s professional peers to “stop this nonsense.”
“Caitlin Clark is getting the crowd pumped up. You can see Skylar Diggins speeding up to make contact with her,” he began.
Stop it! You’re all pissed off because that corn-fed Iowa girl is kicking your butts! She’s cooking! Let her cook!
And the Indiana Fever rookie star was later defended by NFL legend Shannon Sharpe.
Diggins-Smith also faced criticism from fans on social media following the move, who accused her of being jealous of Clark.
The former became a national sensation in college at Notre Dame and has had an extremely successful career in the WNBA.
However, after two seasons lost to maternity leave (including 2023), she is averaging her lowest points per game (13.8) since 2016.
Clark also faced some hostility early in the season from her Sky opponent, Chennedy Carter, who went out of his way to knock her to the ground. Her college rival, Angel Reese, was also seen cheering on the play from the bench.
Anyway, Clark is actually “cooking,” as Sharpe said.
He had 23 points and nine assists to help the Fever beat the Storm, and has scored at least 20 points in five of his last six games.
He’s averaging 23.7 points on 47 percent shooting from the field and 11.7 assists over that span.
Diggins-Smith appeared to deliberately collide with Clark at the end of Sunday’s game.
Clark has been in top form lately, scoring 20-plus points in four of his last five games.
Clark also broke the previous WNBA rookie assists record, surpassing Ticha Penicheiro’s mark of 224 set in 1998 with her 232.
Still, she and the Fever (13-15) still have 12 games left to add to that total.
They’ve won four of their last five games, and the WNBA’s month-long break appears to have benefited the team.
They’ll have another mini-break this week, as they don’t face the Lynx until Saturday.
