Caitlin Clark’s presence has been an enormous boon for the WNBA. Since arriving in 2024, the league has experienced record numbers in both game attendance and television viewership, which has in turn led to a transformational new CBA and the league adding expansion teams at a rapid pace.

Unfortunately, the jump in popularity has also led to people who aren’t actually fans of women’s sports and are more interested in co-opting Clark’s name, image, and likeness for their own personal agendas. For her part, Clark just wants to play basketball, and people are upset that she’s declining to get involved in anything that doesn’t focus on the product on the court.

Last month, her teammate Sophie Cunningham sparked debate when she gave her stance on transgender athletes participating in sports.

“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Cunningham’s childhood friend, and the White House were just a few of the parties who offered opinions on Cunningham’s comments. However, Clark herself has stayed away from addressing it until Sunday, when her response was so curt she may as well have left it alone entirely.

“I think, for us, it’s not really a discussion we really have in our locker room,” she said after being asked about it following a loss to the Minnesota Lynx. “I think it’s for leagues and the governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball. That’s what we talk about and how we can get wins, and, obviously, we didn’t do that tonight.”

Many people were critical of Clark not taking a stance on the controversial topic, and among them was conservative pundit Megyn Kelly.

“Coward,” Kelly wrote bluntly on X in response to Clark.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, one of Clark’s most public fans, did not hold back on Kelly in defense of the point guard.

“Absolute moron/idiot to call Caitlin a coward for this answer,” Portnoy posted. “1st of all you don’t even know how she feels on this issue and more importantly she doesn’t owe it to you or anybody else to be your political talking point. She just wants to play ball. Total coward cheap shot to call her a coward for not being your puppet.”

Absolute moron/idiot to call Caitlin a coward for this answer. 1st of all you don’t even know how she feels on this issue and more importantly she doesn’t owe it to you or anybody else to be your political talking point. She just wants to play ball. Total coward cheap shot… https://t.co/2jQhHizK8Q

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 3, 2026

Kelly might think twice again before going at Clark.