WNBA analyst is wrong about Caitlin Clark

Jun 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) and head coach Stephanie White in the first half against the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Caitlin Clark is set to return to the WNBA on Saturday when her Indiana Fever takes on the Dallas Wings in a season-opening showdown. This marks Clark’s return after missing all but 13 games last season. Clark’s return to the court has led to a lot of discourse in the media about the impact she has on the Fever and the league as a whole, including some rather outlandish takes.

In the lead-up to the season, Clark has been left off first-team All-WNBA teams and ranked as low as No. 10 amongst the best players in the league, and one WNBA analyst went as far as to suggest that the Indiana Fever were actually more difficult to defend last year once Clark went down with an injury.

Moten said that with Clark in the lineup, the Fever offense was “extremely easy to guard.”

“This is my hot take,” WNBA analyst and former college basketball player Lawrencia Moten said during a recent appearance on ESPN. “Honestly, the Indiana Fever played some of their best team basketball without Caitlin Clark, and that’s because she’s like the sun that that offense kind of orbits around. The ball is constantly in her hands, which just made their offense extremely easy to guard.

“Now, without her in the lineup, (head coach) Stephanie White had to decide who else was going to get in the mix, and their offense became so much more diverse. We saw Kelsey Mitchell have a tremendous season. got in the fold. had another dominant season. All because they had to do it without Cailin Clark, and that made their offense extremely hard to guard.”