As the NBA Finals get set to tip off, the majority of focus in the basketball world over the past week has been on the WNBA, particularly the early struggles of star Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark and the perception that she is being unfairly targeted in the professional ranks after a flagrant foul by the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter in a game Saturday.
The surge in popularity that Clark and several other prominent rookies, including Carter’s Sky teammate Angel Reese, are bringing to the WNBA may come as a surprise to some. Longtime NBA player and current television analyst Jamal Crawford is not one of those people.
Crawford, who has coached youth basketball teams in his native Seattle area for the past several years, revealed to FOX Sports’ Keyshawn Johnson on Johnson’s latest podcast “All Facts No Brakes” that he has long enjoyed watching women’s basketball both at the professional and college levels. He also believes that the Clark-Carter controversy is a net positive for the growth of the WNBA.
“It has everybody talking about the WNBA, and I’m enjoying watching the WNBA,” Crawford said. “I don’t think I watched one college [basketball] game in the men’s side last year in the tournament — I watched the whole women’s side.”
Crawford said his reason for preferring the…
