Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson spoke out against Time magazine for naming Caitlin Clark “Athlete of the Year” in an interview with CNN Sport on Friday, suggesting that the publication should have given the award to the entire WNBA.
Johnson even suggested the decision to give Clark the honor would incite feelings of “racism” within the league.
“Why couldn’t they have put the WNBA on that cover and say, ‘The WNBA is the league of the year,’ because of all the talent that we have,” Johnson said. “When you single out one player, it creates hard feelings, so now you’re starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don’t want to hear that.”
Johnson went so far as to claim that Clark’s attention and the minting of the term “the Caitlin Clark effect,” which has been associated with the attention she has brought to the league, is because of race.
“It’s the way media plays out race,” Johnson said. “I feel really bad, because I’ve seen so many players of…
