WNBA teams 'jealous' of Caitlin Clark as private locker room chats emerge
Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull revealed in a recent interview that other WNBA teams have private conversations about the level of attention Fever star Caitlin Clark receives
The Indiana Fever have had a target on their backs ever since the franchise selected Caitlin Clark first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
She's a phenom: Clark possesses Steph Curry-like range never before seen in the WNBA. Regardless, Indiana occupies a huge amount of WNBA media attention. A recent interview with Lexie Hull, a Fever guard who is close friends with Clark, noted this dynamic in a recent interview with Glamour Magazine, calling out alleged jealousy.
Hull assumed a bigger role for Indiana in the playoffs once Clark went down with a season-ending injury. However, the team failed to capture the same slice of the media spotlight as they did in 2024 despite coming one game away from a finals appearance after losing a fiercely contested series with the Las Vegas Aces.
“I think there is a level of jealousy when it comes to the Fever, just because of the media attention and the fans that have shown up for us ever since Caitlin got here,” she admitted.
“We’ve heard people and players and teams talking in their locker room about, ‘We can’t let the Fever win.’”
“If you have extra motivation to beat us because of something out of our control, that’s fine, if that’s what it takes for you guys to come and try extra hard,” Hull added.
“I think a little bit of that is needed across the league... Everyone should feel like they’re getting everyone else’s best, and I do feel like we get everyone else’s best.”
Hull isn't the only player of the Fever to not experience this phenomenon.
Guard Sophie Cunningham — a member of the team's "Tres Leches" contingent alongside Clark and Hull — noted a similar thing after the team lost to the Los Angeles Sparks in Jine.
"We are circled on everybody's schedule," she said. "No one likes us. Everyone in our locker room, that's the only type of people that we have that we can lean on."
Clark set a then record for the most three-pointers made in a WNBA season with 122 during her rookie campaign (since broken by Sabrina Ionescu).
She fell one vote away from capturing the league's Rookie of the Year award unanimously and helped the Fever snap an eight-year playoff duck.
This year's first-overall pick, Paige Bueckers, explained that the increased media attention comes with heightened expectations.
“I would just say [Clark] handles it with grace, and the pressure that she’s put on every single night to perform at the level that she does — it’s inhumane, really,” the Dallas Wings star said.
“To expect people to be perfect and not to have off games or off nights. If she doesn’t go 8-for-10 from three, people are questioning things. It’s unfair to have to deal with that.
"She’s a great person at dealing with it, and just tuning out the noise and just continuing to be there for herself and for her team.”