A’ja Wilson Claps Back at Backlash After Caitlin Clark ‘Erased' WNBA History Comment
In the wake of Las Vegas Aces star forward A'ja Wilson being named the Time 2025 Athlete of the Year on December 9, an ensuing feature article on Wilson from Sean Gregory shared an interesting comment from Wilson that related to Caitlin Clark.
Gregory wrote in the article, "In 2024, Caitlin Clark’s rookie season helped the WNBA hit milestone TV and attendance figures. But Clark’s emergence created a toxic, racially divisive narrative that she was almost singularly responsible for salvaging a league whose foundation had been built by a mostly Black player base. This storyline bothered Wilson, who in 2024 earned her third WNBA MVP award and her second Olympic gold medal in Paris, where she was named tournament MVP."
This was followed by a quote from Wilson, who said, "[The narrative surrounding Clark] wasn’t a hit at me, because I’m going to do me regardless. I’m going to win this MVP, I’ll win a gold medal, y’all can’t shake my résumé. It was more so, let’s not lose the recipe. Let’s not lose the history. It was erased for a minute. And I don’t like that. Because we have tons of women that have been through the grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today.
"It was more so, let’s not lose the recipe. Let’s not lose the history. It was erased for a minute. And I don’t like that. Because we have tons of women that have been through the grimiest of grimy things to get the league where it is today," Wilson added.
A'ja Wilson Responds to Backlash About Caitlin Clark Comment
Wilson got some pushback from the women's basketball community for these comments, especially from Caitlin Clark's fan base, who didn't see why Clark needed to be mentioned in the first place.
And it seems that Wilson has seen this pushback and decided to respond to it with a December 9 post on Threads that read, "You can always tell who reads articles for joy and better understanding of something or someone vs. who reads articles just to look for something they disagree on or to “stir up” stuff 😂 it’s crazy out here! Yall be blessed 🤍".
A'ja Wilson on Threads pic.twitter.com/snfDOpCSzV
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 9, 2025
It is a shame that much of the discourse surrounding Wilson's well-deserved Time 2025 Athlete of the Year honor has largely been overshadowed by this discourse. But that certainly doesn't take away from all of the impressive success Wilson accomplished in 2025 and throughout her Hall of Fame basketball career.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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