Sports Media

Chennedy Carter Checking Caitlin Clark Is Very On-Brand

Karl Heiser / WNBA / June 2, 2024

Chennedy Carter Checking Caitlin Clark Is Very On-Brand

Caitlin Clark has brought plenty of new eyes to the WNBA in her rookie season, and it seems like a talking point is made of anything and everything involving her. So, chances are you’ve already seen the clip from last night’s game between Clark’s Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky. Late in the third quarter of an eventual 71-70 Fever victory, Sky guard Chennedy Carter knocked down a two-point jumper before walking over to Clark and hip-checking her to the ground. Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it:

Wildly unnecessary and pretty clearly a flagrant foul, which the WNBA agreed to earlier today. It also continues a bizarre run of ~~jealousy~~ animosity that many WNBA players seem to have towards Caitlin Clark. The former Iowa star kept it fairly classy in her postgame response, but if you happened to know anything about Chennedy Carter before this incident, you know that this sort of behavior from her isn’t particularly surprising.

Chennedy Carter’s Prior Conduct

Following three seasons at Texas A&M where she averaged 22.5 points per game and received AP All-American honors, Carter was drafted to the Atlanta Dream back in 2021. She was suspended indefinitely for “conduct detrimental to the team” after threatening to beat up her own teammates. The Los Angeles Sparks traded for Carter ahead of the 2022 campaign. The Sparks waived her after she was benched for “poor conduct.” After a year playing abroad in Turkey, Carter signed with the Sky ahead of the 2024 season. Seven games in, she’s playing the role of enforcer (I guess?) and delivering hard off-ball fouls to Caitlin Clark just because she feels like it. It’s not shocking; it’s actually very consistent with Carter’s prior exploits.

There’s nothing wrong with competitive, physical basketball. That’s good for the product. Hard off-ball fouls because of a personal vendetta? Not so much.

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