Dan Patrick Lights Up WNBA Owner Who Said Caitlin Clark Shouldn't Have Won Athlete Of The Year: 'Acknowledge Clark Changed The Game'

NFL: Super Bowl XLIX-New England Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks — Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Sports commentator Dan Patrick took a hatchet and carved up the narrative from a WNBA owner that “the league” as a whole should have won TIME Athlete of the Year, not Caitlin Clark.

In case you missed it, Clark earned the honor and then unwisely suggested she was the beneficiary of ‘white privilege.’

The remark opened the door up to critics who were more than happy to offer up stupid takes on the matter. Enter Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson, who confused the world by saying the entire league deserved the honor.

That’s right, 144 players deserve the honor of “athlete” of the year.

WNBA Owner Disses Caitlin Clark, Dan Patrick Rips Her A New One

Johnson’s comments were confoundingly ignorant.

“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,” she suggested.

“When you single out one player, it creates hard feelings,” Johnson whined, “so now you’re starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don’t want to hear that.”

First off… does she think every player should also win the MVP? After all, we wouldn’t want to single anyone out and hurt feelings.

Patrick, though, thinks maybe the owners and players in the league should appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime player they have before them.

“If you’re TIME’s Person of the Year, it’s not the ‘People of the Year.’ Can’t we just acknowledge Caitlin Clark changed the WNBA? That’s it, it’s okay!” Patrick said.

“You want to throw in Angel Reese, you want to throw in the memory of Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper. It’s a win! This is a unique moment,” he added.

“Stop making excuses for Caitlin Clark’s greatness”

-Dan Patrick responds to Sheila Johnson’s commentspic.twitter.com/p2hbcwFTco
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) December 17, 2024

Others Come To Her Defense

It sure seems like common sense, but then we’re dealing with a league that consistently tries to tear Caitlin Clark and her fans down instead of building them and the product around her up.

Patrick went on to point out that Caitlin Clark is one of those players who transcends their sport, and it would be a disaster if the WNBA tries to diminish her accomplishments as they have.

“Caitlin Clark did for the WNBA what Wayne Gretzky did for the NHL. When Tiger joined the PGA Tour, did we say, ‘Oh TIME’s Man of the Year, we cannot have Tiger on there, we have to have everybody on there?”‘ Patrick asked.

Patrick, while one of few, isn’t the only person to come to Clark’s defense in light of Johnson’s comments. Caitlin’s brother shared a post on social media reminding the Mystics owner that her team owes Clark a significant percentage of their entire season’s attendance.

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith also lashed out at critics of Caitlin Clark, rightly noting that they are ridiculous and noting the current popularity of the WNBA has “everything” to do with the Indiana Fever star.