Rick Barry Discusses Caitlin Clark's Impact on WNBA

More of our conversation here with legendary Hall of Famer Rick Barry here. Hey Rick, real quick. Your takeaway on what you're watching with this Caitlin Clarke story and how and what is going on with that. Listen, the WNBA has not been a moneymaker for almost 30 years. 28 years that thing hemorrhaged money. The NBA was just carrying it. All of a sudden now they get a golden goose. She's like the Larry Bird, so to speak, of the WNBA. Just your takeaway on what and how this whole thing and this saga is playing out. I was disappointed that they didn't take a firmer position once all of this started and should have been a situation. This type of behavior is not going to be tolerated regardless of whether it was Caitlin Clarke or anybody else. That type of physical play, I mean, this is someone's livelihood. You can't allow that type of play to take place because it's going to affect their careers. And in her case, it's even more insane because there's never been a player in the history of the WNBA. And I know well about it because my wife left USA Basketball to be the assistant for Val Ackerman, who was the president of the NBA, who she knew really well and helped them get the WNBA started. She found all, she got all the foreign players. She set up the training camps. So I've watched this league from its inception and nobody, you can name any player you want that's been in that league up until Caitlin Clarke. Nobody's had the dramatic impact that she has had. And it's all because of the exposure with TV and streaming and stuff. And no, I mean, she has changed the game dramatically. I mean, sellouts every place that they're going when she went to play. I mean, Caitlin Clarke was kind of like a savior, kind of like, you know, magic and bird when they came into the NBA, helped things and change things dramatically. But she's special. And it's not like you're trying to give her extra protection. What was going on was just wrong for the game itself. And here's the thing. As you well know, a player will adjust to what's happening, right? If you're allowed to go out and play physical and they're not calling it, you're going to play physical. If you know that if you play overly physical, it's going to be a big fine in suspensions. You're not going to be overly physical unless somehow you lose your composure for a second. You don't want to get suspended. You don't want to get fined. And so you adjust to what the officials are calling. So that's the same thing even with the NBA. It's crazy how they change everything in the playoffs, which drives me absolutely bonkers, to turn it into a physical contest like laboratorial combat. I mean, you're giving an advantage to the less skilled player. And I always kept asking David Stern, God rest his soul, why are you doing this, David? Why are you letting the less skilled player get an advantage playing in the playoffs by being able to be overly physical? And I've many times looked at statistics and stuff. The majority of players in the history of the league statistically do not do as well in the playoffs as they do in the regular season. It's because they give such an advantage to the defense to do the kind of things that they do.