Caitlin Clark's Answer to WNBA 'Goons' Roster Question Turns Heads
One constant narrative during the Indiana Fever's 2024 season was the physical treatment that star player Caitlin Clark received from WNBA veterans across the league.
Many believed that Clark was treated unnecessarily roughly by older players, which was a reflection of their reluctance to embrace the stardom Clark brought with her from Iowa.
Another aspect of this narrative was whether Clark's Fever teammates were doing enough to protect and stick up for her when this rough play occurred, as some fans thought there wasn't one clear enforcer on the Fever who could settle the score, so to speak.
Clark was asked directly about this during her appearance on an April 8 episode of Netflix's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, when Letterman asked, "In the game of professional hockey, there's one or two guys that's assigned to the squad in a position of 'goon'. A guy to protect your scorer or to settle a fight... does that exist in the WNBA?"
"Yeah," Clark said before Letterman interrupted her conveying his excitement. Then Clark backtracked and said, "Probably not so much in the WNBA, only because there’s less than 144 spots to be on the team. But I know for a fact there are people in the NBA, they’re on the team to protect their star player. That's just how it goes. And sometimes you need that. Things are gonna happen.
"People have gotta be there to protect you. My teammates do that for me, but they’re all hoopers. They’re not goons," Clark continued.
Caitlin is asked if goons exist in the WNBA
— correlation (@nosyone4) April 8, 2025
“Not so much in the WNBA only because there’s less than 144 spots to be on the team…there’s people in the NBA they’re on the team to protect their star player…my teammates do that for me but they’re all hoopers. They’re not goons.” pic.twitter.com/DTpfFR7VkH
Fever fans are hoping some of Clark's teammates will assume a temporary "goon" role when it becomes required during the 2025 season.
Recommended Reading:
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever 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.
Follow GrvntYoung