Ex-Philadelphia radio host compares Caitlin Clark to Jeremy Lin, says her stardom is over

Caitlin Clark, the WNBA's 2024 first overall pick and Rookie of the Year, returned to the court Saturday after playing just 13 games last season. A groin injury cut short her second campaign.

She scored 20 points for Indiana but struggled from 3-point range, going 2-for-9. Clark missed a potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds.

Former Philadelphia sports radio host Tyrone Johnson dismissed Clark's stardom on SportsGrid's "The Craig Carton Show." "The Caitlin Clark thing is over because she’s not the best player in the WNBA," Johnson said. "She’s not the best guard in the WNBA. She’s not even the best guard from her college class because that’s Paige Bueckers, who plays for the Dallas Wings, who beat them in the season opener. This could be a situation where we look back on Caitlin Clark, and we’re not gonna look back on her like she’s Michael Jordan. She’s Jeremy Lin. This is just Linsanity."

Johnson criticized Clark for appearing with Morgan Wallen at his Indianapolis concert. "Morgan Wallen says the N-word liberally. Says it more than I do, and I’m Black," he said. Johnson also accused Clark of "b----ing and moaning to the refs nonstop."

"But when we look back on this, we’ll go, this girl had the world by the balls. She had everybody loving her. People who hate women’s sports were tuning in just for her. And when we look at Jeremy Lin and look at her, we’re going to find out that at the end of the day, it was the exact same thing," Johnson added.

Lin burst onto the scene in 2012 with the New York Knicks after riding the bench. Over 17 games, he averaged 20.7 points and 8.5 assists, including 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers and a game-winning 3-pointer versus the Toronto Raptors. His hot streak faded, but he carved out an NBA bench role until 2019.

When Awful Announcing called Johnson's comments a "hot take," he replied it was "the bestest" take.

Clark, the NCAA's all-time leading scorer, averaged 19.2 points and 8.4 assists as a rookie. Lin's career high was 18.0 points. Injuries limited Clark to 16.5 points last season, but she averaged 8.8 assists and earned her second All-Star nod. Lin never made an All-Star team but placed seventh in NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2015-16.