Face Of The WNBA? Jemele Hill Picks A'ja Wilson Over Caitlin Clark

Jemele Hill has spoken.

The former ESPN host, now the face of her own YouTube show Spolitics, says that when it comes to who best represents the WNBA, her money is on four-time MVP A’ja Wilson.

She was responding to pundit Robert Griffin III, who posted after Clark’s recent 45-point/10 assist game, the first stat line of its kind in WNBA history.

“She just had a 45 POINT 10 ASSISTS DOUBLE DOUBLE with 4 steals, 2 blocks and 2 rebounds,” he posted on X.

“Shot 11/18 from the field and 6/10 from 3 point range in 29 minutes with a +16 +/-. Other players have scored more points this year and in years pasts, but most of all, IT WAS EXCITING. That’s why the fans love watching her play. Her style is just different than what they are used to seeing.

“Caitlin Clark is UNDOUBTEDLY the most popular player in the WNBA.”

Hill says that’s the wrong criteria to consider when it comes to Clark. Wilson, 29, is a three-time WNBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and the league’s first four-time MVP. She also won an NCAA championship with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Hill acknowledged that Clark is the most popular player in the league to the point that every one of the Indiana Fever’s games will be broadcast this season, even though the Las Vegas Aces are the current league champions.

“She’s not the face because she’s not creating a new standard for winning (yet),” Hill said. “She does not have accomplishments that people want to take (yet). What team is everyone trying to beat? The Aces. What player is everyone trying to match? A’ja Wilson. The standard for winning is A’ja. Michael Jordan became the face of the NBA because he became the standard by which every player is measured. Everyone wanted to stop him. Caitlin isn’t there.”

But in his tweet, Griffin acknowledged that Wilson is the face of the league…but only to the players. He says that Clark, whether Hill or anyone else likes it or not, is the face of the league to the fans.

“The ‘Face of the WNBA’ to the players and former players is A’Ja Wilson,” Griffin said. “She is respected as such by her peers because she is the best player in the WNBA, the only 4-time WNBA MVP, and has won 3 WNBA Championships. The Face of the WNBA to the fans is Caitlin Clark. She is the player that excites the masses the most with her play style and has broken numerous WNBA records in her first 3 seasons.”

Clark continues to be a polarizing player for the WNBA fanbase that’s largely split on racial lines. This year, Clark is under an additional spotlight as her responses to refs and to assistant coaches are being viewed as confrontational and unprofessional. The conversation around her game, her attitude, and her importance to the league depends on who you are and what your take on the WNBA is.

Clark’s recent 45-point game against the Seattle Storm emboldened her critics. They argue that her 17 points on 19 attempts from the free-throw line padded the stat line and were a result of the league capitulating to her constant griping about officiating.

Another controversy arose when the league suspended Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas for a flagrant foul on Clark, which was assessed after the game. It was the result of a freeze-frame shot that showed Thomas bracing herself off the court with her fist after battling Clark for a loose ball. Slowed down and frozen, it looked like Thomas deliberately pushed her fist into Clark’s neck.

Though Clark made no protest at the time, she said she felt the post-game foul and suspension was justified, but that subsequent harassment, which drew death threats directed at Taylor were wrong.

“As I’ve stood here and said before, the harassment, the hate, none of that is OK,” Clark said in a statement before Fever practice. “That goes for (the) opposing team we play. That goes for my teammates. That goes for my coaches. There should never be a question of character… That’s how I was raised.”

It’s hard to assess which player has the edge with the public that’s not invested in using Clark as a proxy for their own racism. Wilson, whose boyfriend Bam Adebayo plays for the Miami Heat, has notably increased her off-court endeavors and media presence, including signing a Nike shoe deal, attending the Met Gala, and appearing on one of three sports covers of Vanity Fair in June and on a Time 100 cover.

However, to non-sports fans and WNBA casuals, it’s Angel Reese who might have the edge as the “face” of the league. She is the most-followed WNBA player in the league on Instagram with 5.2 million followers, dwarfing Clark at 3.6 million and Wilson at 1.2 million. She shills for Victoria’s Secret, modeled in their annual fashion show, has a Reebok shoe deal, has twice attended the Met Gala, been on two Vogue covers, has appeared in a music video by GloRilla and Cardi B, and made cameos on a TV show and in a movie.

Is it Reese with her command of social media and pop culture, Clark bringing in the money and new fans, or Wilson as one-half of a ball-playing celebrity couple who’s also unarguably the league’s best player on a championship squad?

The debate continues. See social media’s argument below.