Lexie Brown called out the media narratives surrounding Caitlin Clark in her rookie year. On Monday, the former Sparks guard shared her thoughts on the Fever star’s impact on the WNBA and her growth in her rookie season on Michael Porter Jr.‘s “Curious Mike” YouTube channel.
Porter asked Brown for her thoughts on the truth behind narratives prevalent during the Fever guard’s rookie year. Brown criticized the narratives surrounding Clark and admitted that her rookie class changed the WNBA landscape.
“The narratives and the conversation that were surrounding the league their rookie year was very toxic, annoying and weird,” she said. (Timestamp: 30:31)
“Yes, there were moments of probably excessiveness, but again, it was all just super magnified, but I’ve never been the person to take away the impact and the eyes and how much of a difference that rookie class made to the W. They were game-changing.”
Caitlin Clark joined the WNBA as the first pick in the 2024 draft. It was a golden year for the W as Clark’s rookie season became the league’s most-watched regular season on ESPN Platforms ever.
The same season saw the league set the single-game attendance record and the highest total attendance in 22 years. The league saw a 170% increase in viewership from the previous season, averaging 1.19 million viewers across ESPN platforms.
Lexie Brown clears her stance on the transgender athlete debate
Later in the episode, Lexie Brown shared her thoughts on the transgender athlete debate raging in the WNBA communities. The former Sparks player stood against weaponizing the debate to push personal agendas.
“My issue with this topic, specifically in sports, is I feel like people use these examples in sports to weaponize and talk about, like, their beliefs and opinions, which can come off as very transphobic. And I don’t support that,” she said. (Timestamp: 41:23)
“Because at the end of the day, there are a lot of trans men and women in this world that are dealing with a lot of s**t, and a lot of them, I would say a large majority of them, sports is like the last thing that they’re concerned about. The fact that people use sports as a vehicle to alienate and discriminate against trans people, I don’t think is okay.”
Lexie Brown last played for the Seattle Storm. She was waived on June 9, most likely because of her unavailability. The former Sparks guard has been battling Crohn’s disease since 2023.
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Edited by Avi Shravan
