WNBA 2026 Season Thread

Yeah that's always the response when someone can't prove their ridiculous point. But i still like you even though you don't like me and Caitlin. You forget it was me and you in the goat thread who said Ben Simmons was a better overall player than Magic Johnson. We don't look as good now but only because Ben Simmons didn't like playing basketball.

I'll ask you the same i asked others. Why the negative sarcasm? Can't we make our points respectfully? All the best!

As usual Mitchell played more minutes than Caitlin. 33 minutes to 31. At least she got 31 minutes finally. This while Aja Wilson, Chelsea Grey, and Jackie Young get 35, 34, 33 minutes on the regular.

Also the turnover stats is another slanderous narrative towards Caitlin's game. The point guard who gets alot of assists is gonna usually have the most turnovers as well. As they are playmaking trying to get passes into tight windows. Magic and Lebron are among the top 10 list of all time turnovers.

Also alot of the turnovers are due to her teammate not catching the ball or realizing it's coming because Caitlin's playing a step ahead of them. No disrespect to them but it's the truth. Also caitlin is getting double teamed eery time she touches the ball which creates more turnovers.

Clarke was subbed out with 4:25 left in the first quarter, along with Billings and Hull. First substitutions of the game. She came back in with about a minute left and Mitchell went out.

Stephanie White probably gets a cut of concessions revenue, since the fans had three and a half minutes of Clarkeless game time to go get popcorn while the Fever fell ahead from 6-8 to 15-12.

I'll ask her if she does at the family 4th of July picnic.

Wow she got to play a whole 5 minutes and 35 seconds of the 1st quarter. Hoorya!!!!!!!! How did she stay out there that long? Especially considering she's 42 years old. Oh my bad she's 24. Those aces players are a little older but they seem to handle more minutes with no problem. Also Mitchell older and can handle it. Btw did you see the minutes for the other team? Rhyne Howard 37 minutes, Alisha Gray 36, Jordan Canada 32, Angel Reece 31. So the dreams 4th or 5th best player gets the same amount of minutes as the Fever's best player? Things that make you go hmmm. I bet 31 minutes for Angel is low for her too. She must have been in foul trouble maybe. I ddin't see the game just guessing.

Respectfully. And that was funny about the 4th of july picnic. Tell you sister i said hi, and let her know thanks for at least letting Caitlin get 31 minutes. Not many games this year she got to 30 minutes. Even though she should be getting minimum 35.

Also Reece 4 turnovers while Caitlin only had 3 even though Caitlin is the point guard playmaker.

Also i thought after 3 minutes Stephanie White said she always takes Caitlin out? Not today though. Is it possible White's not being honest with us in press conferences? It couldn't be everyone says she's the most honest and non-disruptive coach of all time.

All good i still like your sister just sayin. Also Boston also got 31 minutes when White says she's on a minutes restriction. So eventually Boston will get more minutes when she feels fully recovered/not worried abot the injury anymore, but Caitlin has to beg for 31 minutes. Why?

I heard coach White makes a mean potato salad is it true? Please give a rating at the july 4th picnic.

I forgot to mention Caitlin Clarke 7 rebounds as well. Kelsey Mitchell 0. No disrespect Kelsey but people telling me you better than Caitlin so i gotta keep it real. But nice job kelsey on a very good shooting night!

Who said she's better than Caitlin?

You view things in a binary way and extrapolate what everyone else posts through that lens.

I don't know exactly what these big words mean i'll look up after. I've heard those words but not sure of exact definition. Please dumb it down professor. Just kidding just everyone likes sarcasm so i'm joining the club. Also i'm drunk posting. You the man but....

But seriously dumb it down not sure what you are trying to say by binary way and extrapolate eveyone else's posts through that lens. Are you saying i view things close minded and only one note or view? And then read into others posts to assume they think something opposite that? Just guessing.

I'll show you how a simple man posts. I read your posts and see you, and others, continually tell me things Kelsey Mitchell, and other players, are better at than Caitlin Clarke. Never say what Caitlin's better at than Mitchell and other players. So without you saying it it would look like you trying to raise Mitchell and diminish Caitlin Clarke. Even though i know you're being purposely dishonest as you know Caitlin is better. Everyone knows Caitlin is better but always try to diminish her, and try to raise others to make them look like they're better, or close to Caitlin. Everyone alway wants to tear her down. So i'm the one person in this thread that will defend her. If you guys defended her i wouldn't have to.

There should never be any comparioson of Mitchell or Angel Reece, and many other players to Caitlin. As that's like comparing players to Jordan. That Pippen might have been a better defender, maybe, maybe not. So? Whose better?

The only active players that should be compared to Caitlin Calrke are Aja Wilson and maybe Napheesa Collier. We'll see how she looks when she comes back. Any other comparisons of whose better are dishonet. If the post comes off mad it's not. Just trying to make my argument of why when you keep showing me what Mitchell does better than Caitlin Clarke, especially in one game, seems like you trying to make people and me believe that Mitchell might be better, or close to Caitlin. Let's be friendly. I'll start and say once again you the man!

And then when i counter your Kelsey Mitchell scored more so Caitlin isn't her argument you just send me a sarcastic crying gif is that called?

You could start by not comparing her to the best MALE players in the NBA. Not once have you mentioned a comparable FEMALE player in the WNBA. Get back to me when she has some skins on the wall. Oh wait... my bad it's all her coach's fault she hasn't won an MVP or WNBA title yet.

I compare her to only male players because that's the only people that i know their game. Why? Because nobody watched the wnba until Caitlin Clarke put it on the map because of her greatness. So i compare her to players people actually know how they played. Seems reasonable doesn't it? No disrespect wnba but nobody was watching until Caitlin came along.

Swoops has a resume. Good for her. I would guess Caitlin is playing against a higher caliber of player in present day than Swoops played. I can't prove it because i never saw her, or others play, but pretty sure since all sports athlete's have advanced in strength, size, and talent. But i'm pretty sure when Caitlin's career is over anyone that's not lying would say caitlin's career will was better than Swoops while she played against much better talent. If not already better. Her career stalled because of injury in year 2. Same as Jordan, same as Wemby, now let's see what she does. Which won't be as great as it could be because her coach is trying to make her a role player, as opposed to the featured superstar, face of the league she is.

Btw, if you read through the praise of Swoops career in the bolded part you put you can easily see the weaknesses of that argument where she's not better than Caitlin. I can't see the bolded at the moment but going on memory. 3 time mvp to start. Caitlin's playing against bigger, stronger, faster players and you don't think she'll make more than 3 mvp's in her career, knock on wood barring injury? Was it 3 gold medals? Caitlin got snubbed from her first olympics but probably gets more than 3 gold medals before she's done, again barring injury. Knock on wood. Championships are more a team thing but she'll almsot definitely beat that too. She could beat it by alot in fact. Maybe, if White is the coach probably wins ultiple titles despite White micro-managing of Caitlin into a somewhat of a role player. She probably will win multiple mvp's too despite White. All this while if she gets away from White than we'll really see the great Caitlin Clarke and she'll win everything. Most likely. Nothing is guarunteed. Knock on wood barring injury.

I just looked back only 1 title? And only top 15 all time? Couldn't you pick someone at least considered at least one of the best players of all time instead of number 15? Caitlin's trojectory is the number 1 best player of all time. Will she make it to 1? Maybe, maybe not, only time will tell. But 15 is laughable. Knock on wood barring injury.

She made the hall of fame? Wow. Sorry for the sarcasm but c'mon. Many players less talented thanCaitlin have made the hall of fame. For instance Sue Bird to name one. Sorry Sue but gotta keep it real.

Also why Caitlin hasn't won an mvp or title yet. She won rookie of the year and probably should have won mvp in her rookie season. Her 2nd year she was injured from the start. She tried to play through it and played bad as a result. Plus coach White mis-managing her. Then she was done for the year after 13 games. Her 3rd year and still being careful of her back when, hopefully, it's just still in her head as she admitted herself. But her coach is micro-managing her and trying to turn her into a role player and limiting her minutes. How can you win mvp when the other contenders for mvp play big minutes while Caitlin's coach limits her minutes? And making her work harder on defense than most offensive greats are expected to play on defense which tires a player out for offense. Most coaches try and hide or help them on defense to save their energy for offense and to not get their superstar in foul trouble.

But still alot of games to be played and maybe White changes her mind and let's Caitlin be Caitlin. She's played i think less than 60 games(think it's still less but might have hit 60 games now) in her entire career. She got drafted to a terrible team that she turned around the organization immediately making the playoffs in her 1st season. And as bad as this season has started for the team they are title contenders.

Why is she expected to magically have all the titles and mvp's when her career has barely started? So she hasn't put up a great resume yet mean she's not an excellent talent and player? I, and many others that if being honest but don't speak up, are basing Caitlin as an all-time great with chance at goat player based on the eye test. I mean what has Wemby done besides think he got rookie of the year too? But everyone now saying he may be the goat someday. But besides the eye test Caitlin is shattering many wnba records with ease while her minutes are limited and she's not being featured by the caoch. And based on her college career which is super impressive. Especially considering she played at a school that doesn't get star players coming to them. She beat the really great talented teams of women's college basketball getting to back to back championship games. Think she may have gone fairly deep in the tournament in her freshman and sophmore years too. At least one of those years if not both.

No one is fighting now that they make real money.

Frankly, Becky is pressing and showing her ass by playing her starters dumb minutes. Eight teams make the tournament. These games are not important.

I would not count on big minutes from anyone who isnt pressing or worried for their job

Vegas coaches itself for the most part. Wilson clearly wants another MVP.
Likely at a detriment to her team but that’s where we are now in basketball.

If all we care about is rings, the only important thing is being healthy during Finals week. And if teams logically work backwards from there, “load management” has barely even begun

I agree with all of this. But as much as Wilson wants to win mvp every year, and have a chance to make her case for goat someday, so plays tons of minutes which is clearly obvious why she plays so many minutes like you said, so do many other stars because even if not for mvp at least have bragging rights saying look how many points, rebounds, and assists i averaged. I should be in the top 5 players or whatever. Which adds to people saying they are one of the best in the league. Where Caitlin's reputation of a great player would look lesser if she consistently played less minutes than the rest of the leagues all stars as it would cause her numbers to be smaller because of less minutes.

That's why i root for Caitlin to get more minutes to keep up with the rest of the league's stars so she could have a shot at mvp each year. Because if she always plays alot less minutes she'll never put up the numbers the others stars do even if she's getting better numbers per minutes played. And then someday when she's in a thread for wnba goat Aja Wilson or Catlin Clarke it will always be pointed out Aja averaged whatever she averages, which will always be more than Caitlin if Caitlin always plays significantly less minutes. And Aja would end up with alot more mvp's and scoring titles as well.

But you're right being healthy for the playoffs and finals is the more importnat thing for a team. If you have a legit shot to win it all. And Caitlin seems to be the only one of the superstars of the league that doesn't seem to care as much about numbers and the coach limiting her minutes. And does seem to care more about her health. She seems more focused on winning the title also. But she should care about getting the minutes if she doesn't it will always, year in and year out, be used against her that she's not one of the top players if she's not getting the minutes to break her records, and average her huge numbers like the rest of the stars have a chance to do because they play alot more minutes. Yeah titles are very important. But also numbers are very important when superstars are thinking about their entire career legacy to put up against others for who is the goat or where they land on the all time great list. If Jordan played less minutes to load manage he wouldn't have had 10 scoring titles and less mvp's. Someone that played more minutes would be considered the greatest scorer of all time. And someone with more mvp's would have a better argument to be considered goat. Or at least their fans would argue they were better showing they scored more points per game than Jordan. Or got more mvp's than him.

I as a fan of Caitlin Clarke would rather her win more mvp's than titles. Because her titles could be de-legitimized as it would be argued it wasn't her that caused them to win the titles if Mitchell and Boston played more minutes and put up better numbers as a result of more minutes. They could say Boston and MItchell carried Caitlin to the titles and Caitlin was just the 3rd best player on the team if that. Some are already saying this that she's not as good as Boston and Mitchell.

I still want her to win as many titles as possible, but i want her to win mvp every year, or at least be right there in numbers to be considered mvp every year, and get as many mvp's as possible like Jordan did. So if everyone else is playing tons of minutes so should Caitlin to be on a fair playing field to have a chance to be considered the best wnba player year in and year out, then eventually, hopefully, the goat.

It means you view things in this way:

And so then you take that way of looking at things and then map that onto what other people say.

lol no, that's not what's going on here. You reduce everything down to, 'what are you trying to say? That X is better than CC?' No, what we're saying is what we posted. Everything doesn't have to be a simplistic who is the overall higher rating if it's a video game. And so from there you start ascribing nefarious motives to everyone bc we're not posting in that way. Which then turns it into a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy where people are poking at you a bit because you're being so silly.

lol bro...

She's a top 5 or 10 player in the league. At a minimum Aja and Collier are much better two-way players.

Wait, why are you comparing players to CC, no one compares. I think you're just being disingenuous.

The argument we had was that Kelsey is more of a bucket than CC is because of her playstyle. Not that she's better. I'll say it again, just because Lou Williams is a better iso scorer than Steve Nash doesn't mean they're better. CC isn't better than everyone else about everything.

And it wasn't a sarcastic crying gif fwiw. We all need to leave CC alone and just appreciate that she entertains us bastards. Words to ponder imo.

Love you too btw. No disrespect.

You got bad info. Steph makes the pasta salad, our uncle Bill always made the potato salad.

Of note, not that he knows jack ****:

Jason Whitlock tweeted about an hour ago that the Fevers are "planning to ship Caitlin Clark (sic) to the Los Angeles Sparks. I expect UCLA coach Cori Close to be the head coach of the Sparks."

when I lived in LA and looking at tickets for chicago sky when they came to town in angel reese rookie season, and courtside seats were 5k

this is when players were making 40k a year

dark check, she missed most of last year, she's been limited a bit this year as well, it's probably an organizational decision to ease her back in this year

also, her shooting has fallen dramatically since switching from college

despite that she's arguably been improving with better ft%

so i think she's been hurt, but also never playing in a system that is able to get her open looks the way she could in college

You made too many different things to counter each one. So let me put it this way. i'm the only one being honest. Yet you try to make it look like i'm not being honest. You can say oh i only meant Mitchell ws more of a bucket than CC because of her because of her playing style. You're saying that now. What not what you said before. What you said was that Mitchell was a better scorer because she is more talented of a scorer. Not that she only scores more because of her playing style. So it appears to me you're the one being disingenuos. Not in last night's post but the last time we discussed Mitchell vs Caitlin. And part of the convo was about their scoring. You said Caitlin isn't as good a scorer because she can't create her shot as well. That Caitlin can only score layups because of her teammates screens. That's not you saying playing style that's you saying Mitchell is a more talented scorer period. And on that argument it fails to take into account Caitlin's range compared to Mitchell. Mitchell can't pull up inside half cort or at the logo and be as nearly consistant as Caitlin. They both can get to the basket on their own. Not just caitlin getting their because of screens only.

We can get into more of the debate of whose a better sscorer at another time as i don't want to get off into only one point instead of the overall discussion. So i guess my main point is you came into my posts sarcastically from the start of your posting in thi s thread to mock me for saying Caitlin is a better player than Mitchell. Not just scorer but overall. That's when you brought up you think mitchell is the better scorer. Why would it have been brought up if not to poke holes into my argument that Caitlin was a better player than Mitchell? Why poke holes at it when it sounds like you now admit she's better than Mitchell. And why the negative sarcasm making your points when i never came at you that way or that way towards anyone else until they did to me.

See here saying Caitlin is a top 5 to 10 player in the league. Then saying at a minimum Aja and Collier are better two-way players. You see how both these statements are being disingenuous? Firsoff Caitlin is nowhere near the 10th best player in the league. She is in the top 3 with AJa and Collier. Not saying whose better between the 3 as i have to see more and decide. As Caitln is just getting started since being injured most of the season last year. And being hampered offensively (which is Caitlin's main great talent on that side of the ball) by White's brand of basketball as she wants Caitlin to play more of a role player type game that features her teammates more than herself. But it especially is designed for Boston and Mitchell to be the main scorers through Caitlin or even in general wants them to be the scorers by giving them the ball to score. Also giving Mitchell and Boston the one's to take the game winning shots at end of games. i compare Caitlin to Aja and Collier because they are the only 2 that have may be better at the moment. But even that's not necessarily true either. As Aja and Collier are fetured by the coach to be the superstar and get them the ball to put up all the points, where Caitlin is put into a more diminished role of giving it to Boston and Mitchell. So how is me comparing caitlin to Aja and Collier being disingenuous on my part????

But the Aja and Collier being the better two-way players is even more misleading. Why would you word it like that saying better two-way players instead o better players period unless you want to make it sound like they're better than her when all you're really saying is they are better than her defensively. I should hope so that are better defensively as very tall and strong. But does that mean they are better players? Steph Curry, Jalen Brunson, Luka Doncic, and others are considered bad defenders. So you could say Gary Payton was a better two-way player than of all those great offensive players. Or even lesser players like Patrick Beverley was a better two-way player than all of them. But does that mean they're better players? Of course not. That's why it's misleading and disingenuos to word it that way to make Aja and Collier seem like they are better solely because they are better at defense than Caitlin. Obviously Aja and Collier are better offensively than Patrick Beverley. And also Gary Payton. But are Aja and Colliers offense close enough to Caitlin's offense(not just scoring, but overall offense, meaning assists, shooting range, running the offense etc.) to say they are better players than Caitlin? Imo that is yet to be determined. Again especially since Caitlin is only getting started and is an unfinished product. As she's actively improving her defense while Aja's game will not improve goign forward. Collier i haven't seen her play enough as she was injured last year also and i ddin't watch her play much in Caitlin's rookie year. But it's possible she could improve maybe. And again both Aja and Collier are featured to be the feed me the ball everytime down court mega superstar while Caitlin's role at the moment is feed Boston, Mitchell, and all her teammates. Also Caitlin is reduced to playing much less minutes than Aja. And probably less minutes than Collier once Collier is back and gets off her minutes restriction se will probably have once she come back.

Give me an example of taking the way it think then mapping that onto what other people say? As i have to see hat you exactly mean to see if theire's merit to it?

Lastly, sorry this was long and out of order of your list of points, and i may have missed some points, as i just wrote which points were on my mind first and went from there.

And i genuinely mean no disrespect as well! Even though my posts come off argumentative i am making my arguments peacefully(at least that's my intention in my head) with no anger or trying to make you look bad. Just good ole(or is it ol) fun debating while trying to be honest in the process.

I'll try to keep my posts shorter in the future but had alot of points you brought up to tackle. But even in general i need to shorten my posts. Later!

Not saying you're wrong and that would make some sense. And i thought about that on easing her back in. That was ok for awhile. But if that was the case why wouldn't they just say that? Probably because she's had plenty of time off so she's all the way back now to her old self. Knock on wood! Caitlin said herself that she may have just been getting into her own head worried she'd would re-injure her back, so was being extra precautionary. Which is fine. But the days Caitlin actually plays means she feels good so she should be ready to go as many minutes as the rest of the leagues superstars. I mean Stephanie White didn't say she's on minutes restriction anymore for a reason. So seems she's on a minutes restriction only because White prefers Mitchell and Boston on the court more. But fine i'll give them some more leeway on the minutes for now. But if playoff time comes and she's still not getting max minutes on her team than it's definitely just White's preference. But not fine actually lol as i'm still gonna comlpain about her minutes but i hear what you're saying and thought the same originally. It just saddens me because it will mean she can't have a chance to win mvp this year if she doesn't play enough minutes.

Yes i can handle constructive criticism of Caitlin and agree her shooting isn't as consistent as it once was and has me a little worried. I hope her back issue hasn't messed up her shot. But most likely it's just a matter of time until she's the old Caitlin shooting. Knock on wood again!

Also White's coaching limits Caitlin from getting open shots as more plays are designed for Bsoton to get the good shots. Also she's being double teamed on the regular. So Caitlin is reduced to taking poorer looks then she would like which will obviously lower her shooting percentage. And lastly White's coaching style of pulling Caitlin every few to 5 minutes at a time makes it harder for Caitlin to find her shooting rythm in games. Shooter's need to find their rythm then let them cook. But White pulls Caitlin out even when she starts heating up in her shooting and in her assisting. White's gotta let her cook when she starts cooking. She started off cooking against Portland then white pulled her out after 3 minutes and 30 seconds for no apparent reason.

One last point. Caitlin if starts off missing her first few shots she loses confidence to keep shooting it as she deosn't want to let her team down. If the coach and her teammates encouraged Caitlin to just keep shooting you'll find your rythm, she would start having bigger and better night of shooting.

like i said, they literally removed the credentials of a beat reporter because he accurately reported she was going to be rested

fever management is really weird about this stuff - probably because they are worried about it impacting ticket sales and tv viewership

I hearya.

Btw even though Caitlin had another poor shooting night last night she was really good last night overall after seeing some highlights and hearing about the game. Overall numbers could have been better and the shooting was obviously a low percentge shooting night. I didn't see the game but seeing the highlights she had some crazy nice passes all night. Was kinda close to a triple double 17 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds. One pass she inbounded little inside half court and threw a mid air long distance dime right on the money leading her teammate to get a easy layup. Her passing is so electric it's nuts. I forget sometimes how good a passer she actually is. As i haven't seen her consistenly on the court much since her rookie season because of her injury ending her season last year. And this year i've only seen the tv games and she's always getting smaller minutes. And i don't remember much from back in her rookie season other than remembering she was really good.

Also her defense was really good last night apparently. She was guarding Rhyne Howard and limited her to 8 points total for the game. Don't know if she was primarily guarding her only as i didn't see the game. But heard that's who Caitlin was guarding. And heard she played well on defense.

Caitlin herself said, i think she said it was the best overall game she's ever played in the wnba. Not sure she said it that way but think that's what i heard her say? She said it was disappointing she had a bad shooting night but overall she was extremely happy at her overall game. Hopefully this is a good sign to the start to something good. Knock on wood!

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