Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller provided some very blunt commentary when offering her thoughts on Caitlin Clark’s presence in the WNBA.
“I’m gonna be honest, because it needs to be said. I can relate to that young lady,” Miller said on a recent All the Smoke podcast episode.
Why can she relate? Because as Miller explains, they’ve both suffered some animosity and “hatred” due to skin color.
“I felt for her. I know what it’s like to be hated. I know what it’s like to be a black woman and hated because of my color,” she said. “I can’t imagine this young lady — I don’t want to use hate, but despise — and people just having … look, she brought some of it on herself, because she’s cocky for a good reason.”
“And I love that about her.”
Cheryl Miller weighs in on the narratives surrounding WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
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Cheryl Miller Says Race Issues Are Media-Driven
It’s some refreshing honesty from Cheryl Miller here. Not everybody would have the courage to stand up and say, ‘Hey, what we’re seeing here is basically the reverse of what I dealt with.’
Miller added that, as many realize, the racial issues with Clark and the rest of the league are almost exclusively media-driven.
“But to watch the dynamics and the media — they have their narrative — and I was pleased and proud to see the narrative wasn’t the truth,” she added.
But then, the media loves to cause racial strife in this country. Clark’s fans are often portrayed as racists, hopping on a bandwagon by watching the WNBA when they might not have otherwise. And the media loves Angel Reese as her foil.
The Indiana Fever star herself caused some controversy with comments regarding race when she was named “TIME Athlete of the Year” for 2024.
No White Privilege
After being awarded Athlete of the Year, Clark unwittingly set off a firestorm of controversy when she gave a nod to ‘white privilege’ for her success in the WNBA.
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” Clark told TIME. “A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been black players. This league has kind of been built on them.”
Clark’s comments dismayed fans by seemingly lending credence to players who have suggested her popularity is motivated by race as opposed to, say, record-breaking performances week after week, or being an All-American Midwesterner. And it certainly downplayed the fact that she’s been unfairly targeted for flagrant fouls by players in the league who don’t think she belongs.
She hasn’t been a beneficiary of privilege.
Cheryl Miller dominated women’s basketball, leading USC to two NCAA championships (1983, 1984) as a four-time All-American and three-time Naismith Player of the Year. She also won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team in 1984.
Although knee injuries in the late 1980s cut short her career, she transitioned into a successful coaching and broadcasting career. Miller was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.
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