Today on The IX Sports Podcast, Jackie Powell and Howard Megdal talk all things WNBA, from officiating in opening week to the controversy surrounding Caitlin Clark’s appearance with Morgan Wallen.
Officiating
“There are many more fouls being called, and we’re going to get into the details of what that looks like. But that is undeniably a good thing. It reflects a change in officiating that is trying to create a more free flowing game, as we talked about last week,” Megdal said. (He wrote a column including some officiating analysis for Basketball Insider this week.)
Megdal and Powell also discussed the fact that some players consistently do not get calls, who should.
“That’s such a difficult standard, because there’s no control variable, right,” Megdal said.
Powell pointed to Jonquel Jones as an example of a player that she notices not getting favorable calls.
“There is something different about her whistle than it is for someone like a Breanna Stewart or an A’ja Wilson. I do not know what it is, and we’ve seen in these first few games that she has gotten visibly frustrated from that,” Powell said.
Powell said that she thinks Jones will adjust — but noted that the officiating crews also need to be more consistent.
Las Vegas Aces
Powell and Megdal were joined on the podcast this week by Las Vegas Aces beat reporter Kelly Johnson.
Johnson described Chennedy Carter as a “really underrated off-season pickup.” (She wrote about Carter in a piece for The IX last month.)
“A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, she’s coming back to the league.’ And considering in when she was in China and Mexico, she was putting up 30, 40, even 50 points a game, it goes to show that her game didn’t necessarily leave once she went overseas, and that the Aces are embracing that. They’re kind of letting her play in her own style, play as herself, and she’s thriving with multiple 20-point games already,” Johnson said.
Powell, Megdal, and Johnson also discussed Wilson’s minutes so far this season, the importance of Brianna Turner’s defense, and more.
Caitlin Clark and Morgan Wallen
Powell and Megdal bid their farewells to Johnson before turning to discuss a hot topic in the WNBA this week: Clark’s appearance at country singer Morgan Wallen’s concert. Wallen has been extensively criticized for an incident in 2021 in which he said the N-word (he has since apologized).
“I will say, personally, I did not love that Caitlin Clark made this appearance,” Powell said.
She referenced a take from Jemele Hill, who pointed out that Wallen has brought out many male athletes — including Peyton Manning, Travis Kelce, Marshawn Lynch and Patrick Mahomes — and that they didn’t receive the same backlash Clark did.
“We’re talking about double standards. I encourage for that type of discussion to be made. But I think it’s worth remembering how the culture of the WNBA is very different from the sports that all of those men that I mentioned are a part of,” Powell said.
Megdal noted one conflict at the heart of the controversy.
“‘WNBA is for everybody’ means a couple of different things too, right? WNBA is for everybody means a more inclusive space. But the ‘WNBA is for everybody’ means if you are trying to make sure that your fan base is not litmus-tested politically, because there are more people you want to add to your overall fan base, that’s going to change the culture of what it feels like in the arena and what it feels like in the league itself,” he said.
Tune in to today’s podcast to hear more discussion about the topic on today’s Basketball Edition of The IX Sports Podcast.
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What you missed on today’s episode of Women’s Sports Daily: The Houston Comets are officially back in the WNBA, and the PWHL keeps growing