Diana Taurasi Caitlin Clark Angel Reese WNBA

Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink proved Diana Taurasi right during their WNBA debuts. The officiating certainly did not help any of the star rookies to reach their full potential.

All three of them were in foul trouble early.

Caitlin Clark, the biggest name in women’s basketball, faced the best defensive team in the league on Tuesday night. She was whistled for two quick fouls in the first five minutes of the game and was forced to sit on the bench for 30 minutes of T.V. time.

The Pat McAfee Show was irate! Both of the fouls were ticky-tacky. Ratings likely plummeted after Clark came out of the game and people flipped to other channels.

One night later, Angel Reese was called for two fouls in the first quarter. The No. 7 overall pick finished with five personal fouls on the evening, including a very hard elbow during the fourth quarter.

Although Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon kept Reese in the game after the rookie picked up the first two fouls of her WNBA career, they had an impact on her performance throughout the rest of the evening. She was forced to play with a bit more caution.

Cameron Brink dealt with a similar sequence of events. The Los Angeles Sparks’ No. 2 overall pick actually had the best outing of the three high-profile rookies but also finished with five fouls.

Don’t get me wrong — a foul is a foul is a foul. Fouls should be called.

However, for WNBA referees to be quick with their whistles during three of the most highly-anticipated games in league history was a bummer. Especially with Clark…

There is no reason to call minor contact in any basketball game in any league. And to do so in a rookie’s debut is a real bummer. Let them play!

Diana Taurasi was right.

There was a lot of chatter about the 10-time WNBA All-Star and three-time league champion’s warning to Clark that “reality is coming” and her desire to “kill rookies.” Taurasi then went out of her way to demonstrate her point by bullying Nika Mühl during the preseason.

Like it or not, the 41-year-old veteran was right!

Reese went 5-for-14 from the field and missed six free throws in an eight-point loss. Her +/- differential was -7. Brink was +8 on the night but played less than 20 minutes. Clark set the record for most turnovers by a rookie in her debut with 10.

All three teams lost. All three players had some trouble with (often flimsy) fouls.

Obviously, this reaction stems entirely from the first game(s) of the regular season. This is not to say that Reese, Clark and Brink are bad. Nor does it mean that they are not going to bounce right back and play out of their minds with no fouls in their next games.

Kobe Bryant finished with zero points, zero assists, zero steals, one block, one turnover, one foul and one rebound in just six minutes during his NBA debut. While that is a rather lofty and fairly outlandish comparison, it just goes to show that one game doesn’t mean anything about the future.

With that being said, Clark, Brink and Reese are a combined 0-3 after frustrating debuts. Taurasi tried to tell them!