Defending Teammates: Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and WNBA Stardom

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Sophie Cunningham's defense of Caitlin Clark as the "face of the WNBA" raises questions about what truly defines league leadership. We explore the tension between popularity and performance in determining league stars while examining the complexity of teammate defense in professional basketball.

• Examining Sophie Cunningham's claim that Caitlin Clark is the face of the WNBA
• Debating whether popularity or on-court performance should determine a league's face
• Comparing Clark to established stars like A'ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart
• Questioning if Cunningham's defense is genuine or financially motivated
• Discussing the "welcome to the league" moments rookies experience
• Analyzing how rookie criticism differs from second-year player evaluation
• Exploring whether Clark's turnover issues and shooting inefficiency deserve more scrutiny now

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody?
It's your favorite show'sfavorite show Get a Bucket.
I'm your host, trey, and asusual, I hope you're all having
a wonderful, wonderful day.
Now.
Today we're going to talk aboutdefending teammates, okay, but
before we do that, please makesure to hit that like and
subscribe button.
Comment, tell anyone who'sanyone about the show, trying to
get the ratings up a little bit.
You know, just a little bit.

(00:27):
But like I said, ladies andgentlemen, we're have some
subtopics, like the face of theWNBA, because this topic
actually came up because of,well, caitlin Clark.
So with that, we have CaitlinClark here, right, and her
teammate, sophie Cunningham.
She makes a wonderful statementas follows it literally pisses
me off when people are likeshe's not the face of the league
.
What, and that's my questionwhat?

(00:49):
Like she's not the face of theleague?
I'm sorry, sophie, that canpiss you off all you want to,
but she's not, now, the face ofthe league.
When we're talking about sports, you got to talk about the best
players, right, and I hear youif you think Kaitlyn Clark is
the best player.
I disagree with you.
They are better players.

(01:09):
She's not in my top 10.
Kaitlyn Clark is not in my top10 for the WNBA.
But people are putting her onthat high of a pedestal.
So I understand why you thinkshe is.
Now.
The main reason why they putKaitlin Clark as the face of the
league is popularity.
I do get that.
Popularity does factor in,ladies and gentlemen.
It does matter.

(01:31):
It's not the end-all be-all.
So because of that, again,she's not the face of the league
.
My face of the league AsiaWilson, nafisa Collier, breanna
Stewart those players, the bestof the best and again quite
popular.
Okay, so again for me, betterplayers.
Yes, caitlyn's popularity mightbe higher, but if we're going

(01:54):
on popularity, then Angel Reeselike, don't she have more
followers on Instagram orsomething like that.
Like, popularity is quitesubjective.
So I promise you, if I startsaying Angel Reese is the face
of the league, now y'all Caitlynstans are going to be like
that's not right.
It's not right for Caitlyneither.
So I get it though Sophie tryingto defend her teammate.

(02:16):
That's where we are Now.
If we scroll down a littlefurther, she says Sophie says I
know the talks Phoenix had intheir locker room.
They were like going to showher what the W really is.
And she's referring to Kelsey.
I mean, she's referring toCaitlin Clark.
Now a couple of things to notehere.

(02:37):
Right, I appreciate that she'sspeaking on her time with
Phoenix.
You gotta I'm sorry, but youkind of have to blame Caitlin
Clark's fans and fans for theway Caitlin was quote unquote

(02:58):
attacked, because that's howpeople try to act like she was
attacked when she hit the W,right.
Everybody who's saying she wasthe best, everyone who's saying
the WNBA as a whole is trashbecause of what Caitlyn is doing
yeah, that might be the reasonwhy Caitlyn gets zeroed in on.
That might be the reason whyCaitlyn gets targeted a little

(03:20):
bit more.
Look at LeVar Ball and how hewas talking.
Lonzo ain't saying nothing, andthat might be the problem.
Lonzo ain't saying nothing.
So because of that, lonzo getstargeted a little bit more.
Oh, are we hating out on Lonzo?
No, it's a welcome to theleague moment.
So we're talking about showingher what the W is really like.

(03:43):
I get it, and Sophie does tooto a degree.
She gets it as well to a degree.
I'm curious how Sophie was inthose locker rooms, because it's
not like Sophie.
Cunningham, as a player, isn'tenergetic.
Not that she doesn't ride forher team, right, she's even
defended Kaitlyn Clark year oneon the court.
So I'm curious what Sophie wassaying in those Mercury locker

(04:08):
rooms, because we're snitchingon the Mercury right now, but
what was she saying?
That bit?
Now the rationale because Sophiealso says who cares when it
comes to the face of the leagueand make money off of them, like
that's kind of tough, like, andif you're smart, you're making

(04:33):
money off of them.
But again we're talking abouther teammate.
She's going to the defense ofher teammate but then in the
same breath saying if you'resmart, you make money off of
Caitlin Clark, which is a truestatement.
You definitely can.
But again it begs me to wonder,wonder.
Well, is sophie being fake inthis moment?

(04:53):
Because again her agenda is tomake money, if, if you're smart,
off them.
So is she being smart andmaking money right now?
That's my question mark forsophie cunningham, because again
she's talking about the Mercury, but she ain't talking about
herself and what she said backthen.
And keep in mind she's anenergetic player, like she's a

(05:17):
little rowdy, not negatively,but I'm assuming she might have
had some words for old girl.
That's just me, though.
Maybe I'm tripping, maybe I'mtripping, but that does take me
now to the rookie slander,ladies and gentlemen, because,
again, I think if we're talkingabout last year, last season,

(05:38):
when Caleb Clark was a rookie,it's fair to slander well, it's
not fair to slander Caitlin.
That's not a good time because,again, rookies have no
expectation.
I talked about this in anothershow.
You have basketballexpectationies have no
expectation.
I talked about this in anothershow.
You have basketball expectation, you have analyst expectation
and then you have the casual fanexpectation.
Right, that's the social mediawhere people just go up and say

(05:58):
whatever they want to Based onreal basketball expectations.
Kaitlyn Clark did nothing in theWNBA to deserve any sort of
expectations like, oh, she's thebest player in the WNBA or she
should be WNBA.
No, and even this season therehave still been players playing
better than her, even if shewere playing healthy, even if
she were healthy.

(06:18):
So again, rookie slander.
It's got to chill out.
You can judge rookies, you cancritique rookies.
They don't really haveexpectations.

(06:46):
So For me, if you, gentlemen,when it comes to Aylan Clark,
face of the league, slander allthat stuff.
Sophie, I understand you comingto the defense of your teammate

(07:10):
and I'm so happy that she is nolonger a rookie because we can
critique her and slander herright how she's still leading
the WNBA in turnovers, and we'retalking about year two.
That's now a trend.
Or the inefficiency fromthree-point shooting, that's a
trend.
Yeah, it's cool, she can shootit from deep Inefficient.
But again, though y'all want toharp on, oh, she got eight

(07:31):
assists, six turnovers, justsaying selfie.
The criticism is fair.
The statements she's not theface of the league is fair.
I'm questioning where's yourangle personally, but glad to

(07:51):
see that you draw someentertainment for your show, as
we all are doing so again.
Ladies and gentlemen, I mean,that does conclude the end of
the episode.
But I'm curious what yourthoughts are about this here
topic.
Defending your teammates isthere, is there, is there a real
, genuine defense going on?
Or do you think sophie justbeing smart and making money off

(08:12):
of her teammates?
I don't know.
And then, what's your definitionof face of a professional
league?
Should it be based solely offpopularity?
How much production matters?
Is production more importantthan popularity?
That's what I'm curious aboutnow, but I want to hear y'all

(08:32):
thoughts, like I said.
So, ladies and gentlemen, boysand girls, that does end the
show, like I said.
So I want to hear y'allthoughts.
So please continue to like theWNBA, but also make sure to
continue to watch and support myshow.
So please like, subscribe,comment, tell anyone who's
anyone about the show.
My name is Trey.
I'm the host of Get a Bucket.
Hope you all are having a goodone, take care.