Christine Brennan Confirms The Obvious: WNBA Players Can't Handle Real Media Coverage

The WNBA received an unbelievable gift last summer and her name is Caitlin Clark. For the first time in the league's history, it had a star that actually moved the needle among casual sports fans. But with Clark and the added public attention came additional media coverage. 

And that's where the league and its players have simply failed. The problem was always obvious: these women had never received media coverage like what they were about to face. The WNBA should have prepared them for it, but there's an inherent problem with that idea. WNBA communications reps were also unprepared to handle the added attention on the league. 

OutKick has seen this firsthand. The league essentially attempted to blackball us for asking actual questions to players. Then, after we exposed their tactics, they caved and finally allowed us to ask Brittney Griner if she said "f***ing white girls" during a viral moment. Three weeks went by and not one media member simply asked her that question. By the way, after Griner denied that's what she said, the attention around that moment died. 

Christine Brennan, a longtime USA Today reporter who is about as left-wing as they come, found herself in a precarious spot last season. She was the only media member who asked DiJonai Carrington if she purposefully poked Caitlin Clark in the eye during a game. And the WNBA Players' Association lost its mind, demanding that Brennan lose her media access for even asking the question. 

USA Today reporter Christine Brennan learned firsthand that WNBA players aren't used to real media coverage and they displayed their clear lack of polish many times.

(Imagn Images)

The question was completely reasonable. Actually, "reasonable" isn't even the proper word. That question HAD to be asked. It's a dereliction of duty as a "journalist" to not ask the question. Just like it was when no one asked Griner about what she said. For the WNBAPA to react the way it did showed its hand. The players don't want real media coverage. They want flowery, positive coverage and nothing else. 

Sorry, that's not the way it works. With attention comes money, fame, and all the things the WNBA players claim to want. But it also comes with criticism. Unfortunately, WNBA players aren't equipped to handle that last piece. 

In an excerpt from her upcoming book, On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports, Brennan says a WNBA official told her that the players "just don't get it." 

"Unfortunately, most of our players have zero idea what real media exposure is," the league official told Brennan. "They don’t know what real coverage is, they have been shielded at college, and then they come to the WNBA not knowing what real questions are. Frankly, our players just don’t get it."

Yes, this is what OutKick has been writing for over a year. WNBA players cannot deal with real media because they've never experienced it in their lives. And instead of training them to handle it, or at the very least forcing them to handle it and learn how to adapt, the league has tried to continue shielding them. 

And that doesn't work. It only shines a brighter light on the problems plaguing the league.