As the vitriol around Caitlin Clark and the 2024 WNBA season has continued as they head toward the Finals this weekend, many have pushed the No. 1 overall pick and former Iowa standout to decry the online hate among fans who followed her into the league.

Clark helped lead the Indiana Fever back to the playoffs and piled up endorsement deals with Nike and Gatorade but has opted chiefly to respond to the ugly language used by some in her name only when asked about it. Those responses have been stern and straightforward, but some believe Clark could turn the temperature down significantly by speaking publicly to these trolls and telling them to stand down.

In a discussion on The Right Time with Bomani Jones, which was released Wednesday, Jones and guest Elle Duncan discussed their view of why Clark railing against these “fans” wouldn’t actually do much good.

Jones and Duncan, who hosts College GameDay, WNBA Countdown and SportsCenter for ESPN, argued that Clark may not have the depth of perspective to make a difference — and that even if she did, it would not suddenly make folks stop being hateful in her name.

“She’s never been around Black women or people from different parts of the country. She’s sort of existed in this bubble of women that were raised with similar backgrounds, Black, white or other. They had similar backgrounds and socioeconomic backgrounds,” Duncan explained.

“And she’ll get better with understanding and talking about race the more that she is exposed to people with different backgrounds. But right now, anything that she’s saying is going to sound a bit performative because she doesn’t actually know. Give her time.”

At the same time, Duncan expressed that Clark suddenly also has a lot riding on her ability to navigate these waters correctly. Even if Clark sees the vitriol the same way everyone else does, misspeaking or taking the wrong tact could prove disastrous.

And while it’s reasonable to debate the extent to which Clark is responsible for the league’s explosive growth, she is the most high-profile face of the league right now. A gaffe by Clark would come back to hurt the league she is helping to grow.

“I think that Caitlin also doesn’t want to say the wrong thing. And I’m not sure that it’s one of those, Michael Jordan, Republicans buy sneakers too,” Duncan said. “She’s 22 years old. She is young, and she’s got the weight of all of this on her. And so I think giving her some grace on how she handles the situation as well is called for.”

Jones posited that the calls for Clark to speak out come from an instinct on the part of many young people to demand that people vocalize their positions to prove they are on the right side of an issue.

“This is somewhat generational. We’re talking about a lot of (people), college-educated, in their 20s and early 30s,” Jones added. “There’s a language that is spoken around these sorts of matters and an expectation that people are supposed to stand before the world and prostrate themselves very often of their privilege. Real life, that ain’t really how this goes … they ain’t gonna stop because she say so.”

While it’s fair to say right-wing grifters and bad actors have glommed onto the identity politics that Clark’s presence in the WNBA represents, a form of identity politics is also at play when demanding Clark deliver a prescribed message.

To Jones and Duncan, that message likely wouldn’t change the tides of chatter around the league anyway. The most impactful message will likely come from Clark’s own worldview and beliefs when she feels she can actually make an impact with her words.