fresh off her winning uh Eastern Conference player of the month for August Caitlyn Clark dropped her 103 becoming the quickest to reach 100 threes in WNBA history Clark also recorded her second triple double and becoming the fifth player in WNBA history to record multiple triple doubles in a single season Stephen A I told you how remarkable she was going to be I'm glad you finally believe it show me is I'm glad finally she she's leading the league and assist since July 10th she's the second leading scorer in the NBA behind Asia Wilson averaging 23.8 points per game she's the first rookie in WNBA history to record multiple triple doubles in a season and the Indiana Fever are destined to go to the playoffs they're winning basketball games she is special she is clearly the Rookie of the Year she is a top three or four nvp candidate for the league it's something to behold that she deserves a lot of credit and a lot of people should owe her a debt of gratitude associated with the WNBA because the profile she has brought to the sport overall off the and on the is immeasurable she's been she's been Fant excellent um all right coming up on first take will the Cowboys the uh Indiana Fever made the playoffs they didn't play last night but thanks to Las Vegas with a win over Chicago and Phoenix with a win over Atlanta the Indiana Fever have their first playoff birth since 2016 two years ago they their home attendance was 1,800 fans their average this year home attendance is 177,000 that's almost 10 times and of course the big difference is Caitlyn Clark I think she should be up for MVP Rookie of the Year foregone conclusion but I think MVP now I'm going to look at this the way I did with Michael Jordan now she's not the Michael Jordan of her sport as far as athleticism playing dominating but Asia Wilson is the best player in the game not even a debate but I'm talking about value now value to a franchise value to a league getting your team in the playoffs they had the number one pick they were the worst team last year and there is value that I can attach to that now that might fit not fit in the categories that everybody would you know consider for MVP I'm talking about value Michael Jordan was the most valuable player every single year because of what he meant to his team and what he meant to the league and oh by the way winning six titles can't argue with that Caitlyn Clark may not win titles Las Vegas is still a great team but the fact that she is doing what she's doing and at a very high level you know it's now common place where she'll go for 26 and 12 I mean those are great numbers for any player no matter how long you've been in the league League she's learned how to play the game and she said I had to learn how to play the WNBA way but also she needed a rest she needed a rest after the season in college basketball a month later she's playing games and she's playing against really good teams and then they stacked the schedule up front so everybody got to see her play she struggled and I said second half the season look out and that's exactly what's happened for her and her backc Court mate uh Kelsey Mitchell she's wonderful too you know you talk about offense you're going to get 50 plus points a game out of your back court pretty impressive yes Marvin so if you have an MVP vote do you give Caitlyn Clark a second place okay yes Asia Wilson's MVP correct but I once again I'm talking about the totality of somebody's value her value is felt every place she goes every Arena she goes TV you know ratings value now look that's not I guess fair you know with statistical categories but this is something that to me is larger than this you know the stats that you're going to have value I think she should be runner up to Asia Wilson now there have been wonderful players there are wonderful players I'm talking about something that maybe is hard to Define but you know it when you see it and that is the value that she brings to her sport welcome back to the Stephen A Smith show right here over the digital Airways of YouTube and of course ihart radio let me get to some sports items that's my wheelhouse I got a couple of things a few things on my mind actually uh I didn't mention it in my colde open but I'm going to mention it now and that's Caitlyn Clark herself for the WNBA let's get to the WNBA and this Sensational rookie from the Indiana F who continues to be box office Clark and the F currently lead the WNBA in average game attendance and per game TV viewers ship but despite the attendance and viewership records there seems to be some haterade in the league in regards to Clark starting with WNBA Legend Cheryl swoops herself she recently spoke on her podcast queens of the court and didn't mention the rookie when speaking of Indiana's rise and the standings here's what Cheryl swoops had to say look at this quote here I think the Olympic break really helped Indiana I'm going to shout out to Lexi Hull I'm a Big Lexi Hall fan Lexi Hull shot the leather off the ball in their game against Seattle Kelsey Mitchell is just stroking she's just shooting the basketball Aaliyah Boston almost a triple double if Indiana continues to play the way they're playing like this they too are going to move up in the standings end quote so no no no Caitlin Clark Sher S no no no no no no C no cait CL respectfully Cheryl swoops you have any idea how that makes you look you have any idea how that serves to stain any kind of critique of Caitlyn Clark because that gives spot to those who believe she's being hated on and ostracized to some degree do you realize that Cheryl swoops you're insane to do that let me tell you why you're insane to do that because Cheryl swoops is one of the greatest players ever in the history of basketball that's why see you won a championship in college at Texas Tech you won three Olympic gold medals you won four WNBA championships you know basketball you know basketball better than me you know basketball than any pundits you know basketball better than most of the men that play basketball there is no way in hell you just accidentally left Caitlin Clark's name out of that Soliloquy that you dropped about the Indiana Fever stop it you know that stop it and then y'all wonder what happened see remember when I was on the air on ESPN and I got into it with Monica mcnut Stephen A if you I'm talking to you Stephen you if you had promoted the WNBA more if you had talked about it more they would have played more games like I had the power to go up to ESP and to say you know directors and producers and cameramen and and everybody else flocked to the WNBA at the time when it wasn't nearly as popular as it was today that's what Monica mcnut accused me of but it's okay it's just a disagreement see y'all act like it's some buzz and it's a problem no it's a debate show she has her opinion I have mine I happen to believe she was wrong I happen to believe I was right and I haven't believe the facts have shown that I was right how was the attendance for Team USA in the Olympics what would it have been like if Caitlyn Clark was playing on that team remember the first game look at this right here National broadcast viewership what are we talking about here 1,000 what is that 1. 219 is that the number cuz and the game afterwards got 485,000 views so the fever in their game against the Minnesota lyns was 1.29 Million on Ion on ION follow game didn't even get half the rord go ahead and look everywhere you turn Indiana Fever is breaking records all Cheryl swoops did was validate all the speculation that this's folks hating on Caitlyn clar that's all she did because to know basketball like Cheryl swoops does to be as accomplished as she is to be the Hall of Famer that she is all alkalides that are welld deserved and I'm certainly not attacking Sher SW the person because I think she's a wonderful person she's certainly always been nothing but class and nice to me I'm only addressing a point how do you talk about the Indiana Fever and mention a multitude of players and not one of them is Caitlyn Clark who by the way as a rookie leading the league in assist how do you do that how do you do that I told y'all that I've argu argued with the great Andrea Carter outstanding analyst for ESPN right here on this podcast I've argued with Jana oguma who's an outstanding basketball analyst the two of them together oh my God that's an A team no doubt about it nothing but love for both of them and Monica mcnut the one of the voice preeminent voices of the New York Knicks and what she's doing with her career they know they got my support all love but I'm waiting for you to say I was right Caitlyn Clark can ball she should have been on Team USA because you needed the marketing Buzz I didn't say she was better than all 12 players that were on the team instead of her even though when they almost lost to France I was getting nervous Diana terasi wasn't on the court I said you need somebody that can shoot and then COA showed up and was doing her thing and Ela Wilson did her thing and I was good but what I'm saying is if you remember their first game they had about 13,000 fans somebody else had 15 everybody else had over 20,000 plus you think that would happened if Caitlin Clark was on that team you think that would have happened if Angel Reese was on that team but especially Caitlyn Clark Caitlyn Clark is coming some people think she's already arrived I don't I think she's gonna be even better and I think that what she has done for women's basketball especially in this country has been phenomenal there is no woman no matter how great you were as a player Cheryl swoops there is no woman who should negate mentioning Caitlyn Clark and what Caitlyn Clark is doing for the game I know the Monica mcnut and others were getting very very frustrated at all of the buzz that was going in her Direction not to hate on Caitlyn Clark in any way because I'm sure Monica mcnut does not feel that way she just knows that there were people on the ground pounding the pavement that were doing so much for women basketball everywhere that deserve their praise she was absolutely right in saying that we don't disagree but that's Utopia reality is it didn't happen to this level until Caitlyn Clark showed up call it the Great White Hope call it white being right call it whatever you want see I'm a person that doesn't I recognize that reality but I don't resent it I figure out ways to do it to my advantage I ain't apologizing for that West I ain't apologizing for that Griff I ain't apologizing for that gay I ain't apologizing for nothing there are people in our industry who happen to be white that got paid I ain't mad at them I'm grateful to them thank you for setting the stage hell yeah ain't hate rise and TI lifts all boats whatever it takes for everybody to get fed I'm all for it you a WNBA player Caitlyn Clark gonna get you paid I figure out a way to be her friend or her friend of me that's what Angel Reese has done Angel Reese could play she was doing good things at LSU do y'all notice when she became relevant when she was waving her hand over her face mimicking what Caitlyn Clark was doing to the competition before she ran into LSU and got bum rushed in the final four that's what made Angel Reese popular in rout to LSU winning the national championship a couple of years ago in women's college basketball and then we watched Angel Reese and her popularity elevated along with her nil money and Beyond and we paid attention to her and then Caitlyn Clark took her out but we still remembered and then Dawn Staley in South Carolina came along and said kayln Clark we love you we appreciate you we gonna send you home with thisel and in the postgame celebration on the podium accepting the national championship trophy what did Dawn stey do celebrated Caitlyn Clark because she's smart what did Angel Reese do this year with all the talk about Caitlyn Clark what does she do she goes out on the court she competes against her and then suddenly their teammates in the allstar game and they get long and slapping high fives when Caitlyn Clark delivers an assist her or something along that line and everything's cool cause Caitlyn C Angel Reese figured it out she said there's a way for me to be the meal ticket too if I have to use her to help me do it okay because Angel Reese's game clearly is good enough her personality clearly is Sensational enough the issue is she wasn't she wasn't running from it she embraced it Cheryl swoops take notes you ain't playing no more you're a Hall of Famer and a champion and a basketball Savant you know good and damn well fore spee [Music] fore e e for you from for see for e e e [Music] what fore foree