ESPN’s Monica McNutt laments coverage of Caitlin Clark hard foul

On ESPN’s First Take, Monica McNutt expressed frustration that the show led with discussion of a foul in a WNBA game rather than the basketball itself.

On The Daily Show, she elaborated that coverage has unfairly framed this WNBA season as the league versus rookie Caitlin Clark, rather than appreciating the women who have built the league.

While Clark’s popularity grows the game, McNutt believes the overarching narrative ignores other storylines and fails to fully engage with the on-court product.

“The conversation Jon, it started about this foul over the weekend,” McNutt said. “Chennedy Carter for the Chicago Sky fouled Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever. And I’m not gonna lie to you, Jon, if I take you through my day that morning. I get the call, or the text rather. And I’m like, ‘Are we really leading sports with this?’. Are we really leading sports with a foul? In sports? Alright, fine, let’s just do it.

“So we have the conversation with colleagues and friends, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe. My larger point in the conversation was the tenor and the prevailing narrative that has been created about this season’s WNBA play is that it’s the league versus Caitlin Clark. And that is just absolutely false.”

“It’s unfair to the women that have been there building the league to this moment so that Caitlin Clark’s popularity can take it to the next level. So by the end of the show, my tone had changed and I kind of needed to put my foot down a little bit.”

McNutt acknowledged feeling at times that the WNBA belongs more to the “band of sisters” who worked to establish it than the audience now dictating conversation.

More coverage looks in at the WNBA rather than participating, though the league saw its highest attended and most watched opening month ever.