(Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images) Grant Afseth Mon, October 19, 2026 at 7:33 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Front Office Sports Tonight posted a clip Monday morning of Elle Duncan answering whether Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been treated fairly since she entered the WNBA .
Duncan is the lead studio host for USA Network's WNBA coverage and also anchors for Netflix. She joined ESPN in 2016 and left in December 2025.
Clark was 22 when Indiana took her first overall out of Iowa in the 2024 draft.
"I think that Caitlin Clark has been put in a completely unfair situation," Duncan said. "So unnecessary to ask a — at the time when she came into the league — 21-, 22-year-old woman from Iowa to understand why this was happening to her and why this is happening to all the other women in the league. It is so complicated. It is so nuanced. It is long before Caitlin Clark ever stepped foot on a WNBA court that some of these ideas and narratives have been out there, but they used her as an avatar, and I think it's not fair."
"I also think that to whom much is given, much is expected, and I think Caitlin understands that as well," Duncan continued. "And so she has had to have been put in the unfortunate circumstance that she's got to speak out, that she has to continue to say, 'I don't believe these things, I was not raised this way, you do not speak for me, you do not represent me.'"
Clark held her exit interview in Indianapolis on Oct. 8, 11 days before the clip went up.
She had missed the Fever's team exit interviews five days earlier because she was in Iowa City as the guest picker on ESPN's College GameDay, where Ohio State beat Iowa 31-14 later that day.
During her session, Clark denounced people who have used her "to demonstrate racist rhetoric or hate or discrimination," CBS Sports' Jack Maloney reported .
She also said hearing teammate Kelsey Mitchell's exit interview comments upset her.
Mitchell had said that playing for fans who may not like her has been difficult, and that being herself in Indiana has not always come easily. She also said she would look out for herself in free agency.
Fever general manager Amber Cox defended the team's fans at her exit interview on Oct. 3. Cox said the criticism of Indiana's fan base was not grounded in reality and should end, and she singled out the media.
Las Vegas eliminated Indiana in the first round. The Aces won Game 1, 102-85, on Sept. 27.
Two days later in Indianapolis, A'ja Wilson confronted a fan who had pointed at her after a foul call. The Fever won that game 99-89 behind 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 15 assists from Clark.
Las Vegas closed the series with a 94-83 win in Game 3 on Oct. 1.
Clark averaged 22.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 8.3 assists in 40 regular-season games. Indiana went 28-16 and entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
In three playoff games, she averaged 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 9.7 assists.
Mitchell averaged 24.7 points in 44 games. Her 1,086 points set a WNBA single-season record.
At Front Office Sports' Tuned In summit on Oct. 13, Duncan told Baker Machado that covering the WNBA had become "toxic as hell," Front Office Sports' Yanyan Li reported .
She said at the summit that the next commissioner should work on the divisiveness around the league and on connecting players and owners.
Duncan also weighed in on Clark in December 2024. She posted on X that Clark deserved to be named Time's Athlete of the Year, after Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson told CNN that Clark should not have been on the cover alone, according to Sports Illustrated .
The league announced Sept. 4 that Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will retire at the end of 2026.
At her final Finals news conference Saturday in San Francisco, Engelbert listed player safety as the No. 1 issue the league is still working through . She condemned people who hide "behind a keyboard to spew vitriol and hate and racism and misogyny at our players."
Golden State beat Atlanta 68-64 in Game 1 later that afternoon. Game 2 is Monday night at Chase Center.
Mitchell signed a one-year deal last offseason and will be an unrestricted free agent this winter.
Clark is eligible this offseason for an EPIC extension under the new collective bargaining agreement, which allows a player to renegotiate the fourth year of a rookie contract and add three more seasons.
Source: Sports
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