Earlier this summer, ESPN racial idolater David Dennis Jr. defended the WNBA players who had hard-fouled and targeted Caitlin Clark. He also argued that Clark wasn’t that good and wasn’t among the best players at her own position.
“What bothers me is when this is framed as some sort of petty jealousy or insecurity by these women in the WNBA,” Dennis began.
“I don’t think you can make a compelling argument that Caitlin Clark is a top four guard in the WNBA,” he added.
A week later, former WNBA player and NFL analyst Stacey Dales challenged Dennis’ argument on-air. She embarrassed him. So much so that he shifted the conversation, claiming Clark’s style of play doesn’t translate to winning.
Since Dennis made those remarks, Clark has played seven games (July 17 through Aug. 2), averaging 26.1 points and 8.6 assists per game. She won Player of the Month and scored 45 points in one game.
Oh, and she led the Fever to a 6-1 record. So much for her style of play “not translating to wins.”
Clark now has seven career games with at least 25 points, 10 assists, and five made 3-pointers. The rest of WNBA history combined has four.
Dennis returned from his X vacation this week (he spent the past few weeks posting on Bluesky) and addressed those mocking him.
He began by declaring that he was “standing by” his previous remarks.
“So: I stand by all the points I made three weeks ago because three weeks ago CC was not a top 4 guard this season. Since then she’s put up some of her best games of her career and is on a heater. Some of the other players I had ahead have slumped a bit too,” Dennis wrote.
“I think I’d put CC #4 right now. Paige, Olivia and Kelsey are all still above her and there’s not really any way I’m coming off that right now. CC is still in the tier right below.”
He then took another shot at Clark, this time because of one mediocre game during that seven-game stretch:
“Also another reason these people are unserious is bc they were all in my mentions for two weeks but it’s crickets after a game where she was the fourth best guard on the court. If I were a real hater I’d be back at it with them but alas…”
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A couple of thoughts.
First, it’s important to understand who David Dennis Jr. is. He’s one of the few remaining voices at ESPN still clinging to the DEI and BLM era, when the network insisted nearly every story must be viewed through the lens of thinly veiled racism.
Following Ryan Clark’s exit, Dennis may be ESPN’s most foolish employee left. It’s between him and Monica McNutt.
Among Dennis’ greatest hits: calling Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign “mortifying,” arguing White people have a moral obligation to defend Black people who wrong them, insisting Hulk Hogan should only be remembered as a racist after defending Kobe Bryant despite the credible rape allegation against him, and accusing LSU head coach Lane Kiffin of helping Louisiana “eradicate” Black voting power.
Somehow, ESPN rewarded Dennis with a multi-year contract extension in June. The network hired him in 2021, proudly noting that he was the son of a civil rights activist. What that has to do with sports has never been clear.
So it’s fairly obvious why Dennis is so eager to diminish Clark.
The political left has cast Clark as a central villain in the culture war, as the evil, straight White woman thriving in a league of victimized Black lesbians. Dennis is simply following the script.
Still, there’s a remarkable level of buffoonery in his analysis.
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Saying Clark wasn’t a top-four guard would have been a hot take. Sports is full of hot takes. However, claiming there wasn’t a “compelling argument” for her to be in the top four is where he lost credibility.
And if Clark was supposedly so far behind four other guards just a few weeks ago, how did she suddenly leap into fourth place after a seven-game stretch, as he claims?
He’s just saying words. Buzzwords.
Admittedly, debating player rankings is a fruitless exercise. There’s no single statistic that settles the debate. Such rankings are inherently subjective.
That said, the consensus around the WNBA is that A’ja Wilson is the league’s best player, and Clark is typically ranked somewhere behind her. ESPN itself ranked Clark No. 3 entering the 2026 season, behind Wilson and Kelsey Plum.
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We’re not here to argue whether Clark is the second-, third-, or fifth-best player in the league. These rankings are not literal. Rather, we are here to point out that Dennis isn’t making a serious basketball argument when he insists that Clark is definitively in a tier below Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles, and Kelsey Plum.
That’s not a sports argument. It’s a culture-war argument, the kind ESPN should no longer be in the business of making.
Like McNutt, Dennis should soon join Ryan Clark on the growing list of former ESPN personalities who undermined the network with their racial idolatry.
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