Women's Fastbreak On SI

ESPN Analyst's Caitlin Clark 'Villain' Claim Amid ESPYs Award Win Turns Heads

ESPN's Ari Chambers made a strange comment about Caitlin Clark after the won the ESPY for best WNBA player on July 16.
Grant Young|
Jul 15, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts after a play against the Connecticut Sun in the second quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Jul 15, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts after a play against the Connecticut Sun in the second quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

A lot of the news regarding Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark has not been good over the past couple of days. This is not owed to Clark doing anything wrong; rather, just that she suffered a groin injury during her team's July 15 game against the Connecticut Sun.

As a result of this injury, it came out that Clark wouldn't be able to play in the Fever's game against the New York Liberty on Wednesday, and her participation in the 2025 WNBA All-Star weekend (including the All-Star Game and the three-point competition) is still unclear.

But there was also some good news for No. 22 on Wednesday: Clark won the ESPY award for the best WNBA player, as part of the 2025 ESPYs that took place on July 16.

Because Clark is with her team, she wasn't able to accept the award. Therefore, several ESPN analysts accepted the award on her behalf before the award show began — and Ari Chambers made an interesting comment when speaking about Clark getting the honor.

"I see just exponential growth of the game, right?" Chambers said when asked what stood out to her about everything Clark has done in the past year, per an X post from @drafts95452567. "She brings eyes to the game so that the next generation can come out and thrive. Just a dynamic player, just exciting to watch.

"Her villain origin story has started, and she loves to play into it. Fans eat it right up," Chambers added.

This comment from Chambers is going viral, as social media is confused about what she meant by Clark's "villain origin story".

And Chambers addressed what she meant on X by saying, "Like loving to play with fiery fierceness. The same way we acknowledged DT. Considering we largely discussed how she’s the daughter of her. THAT is the “villain origin story” I was talking about. And it’s FIRE."

Chambers' explanation aside, most women's basketball fans (specifically Clark's fan base) don't see her as a villain.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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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