Caitlin Clark Thinks The NBA Ratings Are In The Toilet Because "The Players Are Too Good"
So Caitlin Clark, the golden child of the WNBA and arguably basketball's best ambassador right now, decided to dip her toes into "NBA Ratings Suck" waters on the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast this week.
Full disclosure. I love Caitlin.
How can you not?
She's an insanely talented, proud Italian-American, who is an exemplary role-model for young people today. Something extremely rare nowadays.
One of the most admirable things about her, is the grace with which she handles the ridiculous amount of jealousy and pettiness she endures, just for being a successful and nice woman. One who men have rallied behind and celebrated for all the reasons mentioned above. And for the same reasons, one who women fucking despise. Because, as is all too-often the case, women are batshit crazy and love nothing more than to tear down other women.
Something I wrote about extensively last year-
But I digress.
Caitlin went on the Kelce's show and took a flamethrower to the hideous neon floors of the NBA’s in-season tournament. Finally, someone with clout said what we’ve all been thinking: those painted courts look like someone dumped a highlighter on a gym floor and called it art.
“I’m getting like a migraine looking at the neon green floor,” Clark said. Preach, Caitlin. PREACH SISTER.
I mean, not trying to sound like an old here, but who thought this looked good?
Caitlin is right. The NBA thought they were being edgy, differentiating tournament games from regular season snoozefests. Instead, they turned our TVs into migraine machines.
Advertisement
Now, while Clark was spot-on about the courts, her take on why NBA ratings are slipping made me do a double take. She basically said the players are too good and that’s why it looks like they’re not trying. Let’s break this down. Caitlin, I love you- you’re the Steph Curry of Iowa, the WNBA’s ratings savior, and maybe even my basketball soulmate- but this ain’t it.
“I’ve been asking a lot of people about this and why they think they’re down,” Clark said. “I feel like the average basketball fan doesn’t understand how good NBA players are. And they think it looks like they’re not trying. I promise you they’re trying. They’re just like so good. That’s why it looks like they’re not trying. And obviously the physicality of the league has changed a lot. I was never around when it was much more physical and maybe people want more beef and physicality, and people think it’s gone soft. But I think that’s also because the skill has just changed. That’s what’s great about basketball. It’s always evolving…so it’s hard for me to put my finger on why it’s gone down and also it’s competing against a lot of football right now, you have to take that into consideration.”
The NBA’s ratings problem isn’t because fans can’t comprehend how good the players are. It’s because the product looks stale. You can’t just say, “They’re so skilled it looks like they’re not trying.” That’s like me saying my DJ sets are so unbelievable because I am just hitting play. (Wait, maybe she’s onto something…)
But seriously, that argument is like defending a great artists worst album by saying it’s too deep for people to appreciate. It's a cop out.
She did nail a few other points, though. Clark acknowledged that today’s NBA lacks the physicality of the 90s, which, let’s be honest, was the golden era. Back then, you had guys like Charles Oakley and Bill Laimbeer turning the paint into the Octagon.
Now, you can’t even sneeze near Steph Curry without the refs calling a flagrant.
The zany Kelce brothers’ also offered their own zany suggestions to fix the problem-
A four-point line? NBA Jam-style on fire streaks? In-game hockey fights?
Ok.
If the NBA wants real rivalries and drama, it doesn’t need gimmicks.
The truth is, the NBA Cup and its blinding floors aren’t the only issue.
It’s a cocktail of problems: load management killing the regular season’s importance, too many threes making games look like glorified pop-a-shot, and stars sitting out marquee matchups because their hamstring is “feeling tight.” Oh, and everybody being best friends with each other and not wanting to make anybody else look bad or beat their asses like the Jordans, Birds, and Kobes of the world did every night.
Clark is right that the league is evolving, but evolution doesn’t mean better TV. Sometimes it just means more threes, less defense, and way fewer people caring until April.
Caitlin, keep being the best thing to happen to basketball since the shot clock. But maybe leave fixing the NBA to the professional haters.