Popular Sportswriter & Former ESPN Employee Is Getting Blasted Over His Boneheaded Take About Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Team Name

Caitlin Clark (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
We are just a few weeks from Caitlin Clark getting selected by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Draft, and reporters are still making cringeworthy comments when it comes to the increased visibility of the league due to the presence of the former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar.

It’s evident that the WNBA is going all out to make Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark the face of their brand, aiming to make as much money as possible while taking full advantage of the situation.

While Clark adjusts to the league, the WNBA is looking for new methods to grow its fan base. This has prompted numerous basketball experts to come up with their own ideas for making the league more exciting.

Bill Simmons, a basketball pundit, featured NBA reporter Ethan Sherwood Strauss on his podcast. They talked about the WNBA and its development possibilities, and Strauss came up with what he believed was a brilliant concept to make the league more enticing.

Strauss, while bringing up Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever, wants the WNBA to name franchises after NBA teams in the same city, as is done in college and European sports. The connection to NBA franchises alone would boost ratings, attracting a sizable section of each fandom, but only some were so enthusiastic about the notion.

“One thing they should have done, and maybe there’s still time to do, that they didn’t do from the outset, is just use the same team names,” Strauss began on Bill Simmons Podcast. “Like, why force people to learn about the Fever? Why not just have the W Pacers? I think that just makes it so much easier to just resonate and cut across.”

Here is how social media reacted:

Simmons did not outright agree, but he didn’t disagree either.