Phoenix Mercury legend Nancy Lieberman: Players ‘need to thank’ Caitlin Clark

Everyone has a hot take about the now-infamous hard foul on Caitlin Clark that happened Saturday.

The latest notable two cents on the uproar comes from women’s basketball legend and former Phoenix Mercury player Nancy Lieberman. She was a member of the Mercury during the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 season.

During Lieberman’s Wednesday appearance on Fan Duel TV’s NBA show “Run It Back,” the Hall of Famer gave an expletive-charged reaction to the Indiana Fever’s star rookie Clark getting a hard shove to the floor by the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter during their game on ESPN.

“If I were Caitlin Clark, I would’ve punched her in the face,” Lieberman said. “But I’m from New York and I would’ve told her to (expletive) off,” Lieberman said.

The dust-up was the final straw after additional video footage surfaced that revealed both players tangled up going after a loose ball during an Indiana possession in the third quarter’s closing seconds. Clark visibly pushed Carter back with her arm going after the ball, and the Fever’s Aliyah Boston scored a putback layup. Then Clark seemingly said something in Carter’s direction as Indiana ran back on defense.

Carter, who scored the game-high 19 points off the bench in Chicago’s 71-70 loss, hit a jump shot on the next play, directed an expletive at Clark then trucked her in the backcourt during the subsequent dead ball. Amid the uproar, the WNBA upgraded Carter’s foul from a common foul to a flagrant foul on Monday.

Clark said after the game that it “wasn’t a basketball play.” Carter declined to comment when she was questioned by the media about her heated exchange with Clark.

Lieberman, who added that she tracked Carter’s early career in Lieberman’s resident city Dallas, also panned Clark’s teammates for not aiding her during the incident.

“And that would actually cure the problem because I’ve known Chennedy since she was here in high school here in Dallas. She’s a tough kid. She’s a really good basketball player. She’s gonna come after you because she’s very physical, which is OK. But damn, where’s Caitlin Clark’s teammates?”

Despite the rise in media coverage of the WNBA over the past year, Lieberman compared Clark to Michael Jordan’s and Tiger Woods’ entrances to the pros.

“People need to thank Caitlin Clark for being that generational athlete that is making them wealthy,” Lieberman said.

She also claimed teams wouldn’t have “charter jets without her, wouldn’t have been on TV” if it wasn’t for Clark’s superstardom.

At the start of the regular season in May, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the league has budgeted $50 million over the next two years for team charter flights. That’s been a long-debated topic about revenue and safety concerns as teams had to board commercial flights for road games, whereas their NBA counterparts have flown on charter flights for decades.

“I don’t know why it hasn’t happened sooner. It shouldn’t. It’s kind of ridiculous it’s taken this long,” Sophie Cunningham said at the Mercury’s media day on May 9.

Many of the league’s top rookies and veteran players have denied the widespread media speculation that they’re jealous of the massive attention Clark has earned. Over the past two college basketball seasons, Clark led Iowa to back-to-back national championship appearances, and broke Pete Maravich’s NCAA all-time scoring record in March that stood for 54 years.

Diana Taurasi received flak for her message to Clark on ESPN during the Women’s Final Four.

“Reality is coming. There’s levels to this thing. And that’s just life,” Taurasi said. “We all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side. … You look superhuman playing 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come with some grown women that’ve been playing professional basketball for a long time.

“Not saying that it’s not gonna translate because when you’re great at what you do, you’re just gonna get better. But there is gonna be a transition period where you’re just gonna have to give yourself some grace as a rookie.”

Taurasi was later asked about her commentary on Clark during the Mercury’s first media availability on April 28, which she laughed and shrugged off by saying, “The new fans are really sensitive these days. You can’t say anything.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury legend Nancy Lieberman blasts hard foul on Caitlin Clark