Caitlin Clark is the talk of the town. It is due to her that the WNBA is having one of its best possible seasons in terms of revenue. She brought a hoard of fans from the NCAA. However, there was a narrative that blamed other WNBA athletes for being jealous of Clark. Amid the Clark issue, a number of celebrities came out in support of her, one of which was NBA legend Charles Barkley.

Barkley now has again come forward to address the issue and this time he even spoke of Clark’s gameplay. He was present during an exclusive chat session with 12Sports’ Cameron Cox. Barkley was asked a variety of questions ranging from Kevin Durant’s leadership to personal stories. One such question that caught the fancy of all fans was when Barkley spoke about Clark.

Charles Barkley says Caitlin Clark isn’t the best

Rationale Barkley presented his point of view on Caitlin Clark and acknowledged that Clark was “not the best player in the WNBA.” The interview, which came out on Monday, gained a lot of momentum and fans were surprised to hear Barkley’s views on the same. “Oh, tremendous. She’s got those women on private charters now. Is she the best player? No, she’s not the best player in the WNBA, but she’s a shining star. 90% of her games are going be on television I think; I don’t think the WNBA did her any favors. That team is not going to be very good. That just put too much pressure and that adds to the jealousy also to be honest with you. But the eyes and attention she’s bought to the game, give that lady her flowers,” Barkley stated.

USA Today via Reuters

With the emergence of Clark, the New York Liberty got their highest revenue, securing a record of around $2 million in sales tickets. Clark’s all five games have been sold out. While WNBA sales are up by 93% from last season, the Indiana Fever is recording 13 times more ticket sales than last season. Moreover, Fever has the highest ticket price, as per Axios.com

The average ticket price is $175, while last season it was reported to be around $95. Another important thing to note is that all this has happened while Clark hasn’t been able to match the NCAA precedent she had set. She has recorded 15.4 points per game with 5.4 rebounds per match. This is quite lower than the 40-point games she used to have in college basketball. With this, Barkley clarified what he had said before.

Charles Barkley had taken a jab at WNBA athletes

During an episode of TNT’s Inside the NBA broadcast, Barkley stated that the WNBA athletes should be thankful to Clark instead of being “petty”. He pointed to the fact that the WNBA was ready to invest $50 million over the course of the next two years to provide charter planes to the WNBA teams – something that hadn’t happened before. All this he attributed was due to Clark’s presence since the WNBA would be minting more money than they had done in the previous seasons.

“You woman out there, y’all petty, man… Y’all should be thanking [Caitlin Clark] for getting y’all a*s private charters. All the money and visibility she’s bringing to the WNBA,” Barkley stated. Now that Barkley has justified his statements and given his reasons, the athletes, if they had taken it to heart, would be pacified. While there are still opposing views on whether Clark is the best player, no one can deny her impact, which will help the league earn more money.

What’s your take on Barkley’s narrative? Let us know in the comments, and to know what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video below.