Rich Eisen thinks Caitlin Clark is the subject of jealousy for coaches, players and even referees 

By Ethen Hutton

Modified Aug 21, 2024 03:10 GMT

Caitlin Clark's sensational rookie season continues, with the Indiana Fever advancing to 2-0 post the WNBA All-Star and 2024 Paris Olympics break.

Analysts all over the media landscape have offered their praise to the rookie phenom, including Rich Eisen, who discussed Clark's historic rookie season on "The Rich Eisen Show" on Tuesday.

Eisen spoke about a theory that WNBA players, coaches and even referees are envious of the way Caitlin Clark has impacted the league so early into her career on the "Over Reaction Monday" segment of his show.

"Could you imagine being an official and telling Caitlin Clark that she's being disrespectful to the game? Eisen questioned. "What malfunction must be occurring in somebody's temples to say such a thing? That, 'I'm not only going to be the arbiter if something is a foul or not... I'm going to be the arbiter if Caitlin Clark is being respectful to the game or not'. Are you out of your mind?

"How can you not think this? Is it jealousy? Is it anger? Is she maybe doing something we don't know during games? It would be great to see her make a great run to finish the season and go on a playoff run," he added.

During the segment, Skylar Diggins-Smith's bump into Caitlin Clark was used as an example of the supposed jealousy or frustration across the league, driving home the point that some WNBA players could be jealous of the popularity behind Clark.

Caitlin Clark uses technical foul as fuel to close out Seattle Storm in win

Clark questioned the referees after receiving a technical foul for hitting the backstop of the basket out of frustration following a missed 3-point attempt on the other end of the court.

After starting the game against the Seattle Storm shooting just 4-for-13 and being called up for a technical, Clark finished the game making five of her six attempts for 12 points, dishing out six assists as well.

Clark finished the night with 23 points and nine assists, breaking the WNBA rookie single-season record for assists.

After the game, the former Iowa Hawkeye star offered some insight into receiving her fifth technical foul of the season:

"I think he fired me up to continue to play a lot harder. I thought we got a lot better after he did that, so I want to thank him for that," Clark said.

Caitlin Clark helped bring the Fever to 13-15 on the season with their second-straight win after coming back from the WNBA All-Star break, as Indiana eyes a playoff berth in Clark's rookie season.