{
  "id": 4671022,
  "title": "Caitlin Clark Has ESPN Legend Blasting Calls For Her To Come Off Fever Bench",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/caitlin-clark-has-espn-legend-blasting-calls-for-her-to-come-off",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-31T16:24:46.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/caitlin-clark-espn-legend-blasting-162446440.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Caitlin Clark, the star of the Indiana Fever, is once again the center of media controversy. A veteran basketball analyst from ESPN, Zena Keita, suggested Clark should be removed from the starting lineup to teach her a lesson about team dynamics. Keita argued that giving a rookie like Raven Johnson the starting spot would keep Clark from becoming more important than the program.\n\nHowever, former ESPN anchor Linda Cohn quickly reacted to the viral video clip on social media. Cohn called the suggestion ridiculous and blasted the analyst for making such an absurd evaluation of a franchise player. She wrote on X, \"Makes perfect sense to those who make ridiculous observations.\"\n\nCohn's response highlights the frustration felt by many traditional sports fans who value on-court production over team-building experiments. They believe elite talent requires heavy rotational minutes to develop properly and that punishing a leading scorer for the sake of a point ruins team chemistry.\n\nThe controversy surrounding Clark is not limited to this benching suggestion. Another WNBA analyst, Keita, faced significant backlash after making a factual error about league history. She incorrectly claimed that Minnesota guard Olivia Miles had set the all-time rookie assist record, while in reality, Caitlin Clark established that record with 337 assists just two years ago.\n\nClark, who is leading the Indiana Fever into the upcoming postseason, remains focused on her performance despite the outside media noise. The star point guard will need to maintain her dominant starting role as the regular season concludes if she hopes to secure major individual awards this year.",
  "summary": "Caitlin Clark is once again at the center of a heated media discussion. Caitlin Clark currently averages over twenty-two points per game during her incredible rookie campaign. The Indiana Fever rely heavily on her offensive production to secure crucial playoff positioning. Despite this massive success, a controversial media clip recently resurfaced online. A prominent basketball [...]",
  "key_points": [
    "ESPN analyst Zena Keita suggests removing Caitlin Clark from starting lineup",
    "Former ESPN anchor Linda Cohn blasts Keita's suggestion as ridiculous",
    "Clark leads Indiana Fever into playoffs despite media controversy"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}