Caitlin Clark WNBA

Former Los Angeles Lakers key reserve Mychal Thompson commended Indiana Fever second-year star Caitlin Clark amid some negativity from past and present WNBA players

Celebrated Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark had to dance through a sea of both praise and criticism throughout her dazzling 2024 rookie campaign.

Former Los Angeles Lakers two-time NBA champion Mychal Thompson – the father of future Hall of Famer Klay Thompson – came up with his own acronym to summarize some of the animosity. He calls it “JEEP,” which stands for Jealousy, Envy, Egos, and Pettiness.

“They don’t like Caitlin Clark…. I’ve been following her career since she was a sophomore at Iowa, and I recognized how different she was, how different she played the game. She played the game like Steph Curry,” Thompson told Outkick’s Dan Dakich in an interview earlier this week.

Now that she’s in the WNBA, I’ll tell you, she needs a Jeep endorsement, a commercial,” Thompson continued. Because JEEP is an acronym that I’ve come up with of the way she has been treated and not welcomed into the WNBA. JEEP, the acronym is J.E.E.P., and that stands for: Jealousy, Envy, Egos, and Pettiness.”

Clark, the first pick by the Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft, took the league by storm in her rookie year, somehow carrying the momentum of setting the NCAA’s all-time leading scoring mark just months prior.

The Fever star became the first rookie in WNBA History to capture a Conference Player of the Month honor en route to finishing fourth in the league’s MVP voting.

Mychal Thompson (L) celebrates the Warriors’ 2019 NBA title with his son Klay ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

Clark faced her share of critics, including frequent chirper Sheryl Swoopes (a three-time WNBA MVP). “Will Caitlin Clark be a good pro? Absolutely,” Swoopes said of ‘Gil’s Arena’ in April 2024.

“Will Caitlin Clark come into the WNBA and do what she’s doing right now immediately? Absolutely not. Not going to happen,” she added.

Thompson, a Bahamian native, was the first pick in the 1978 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He’s most remembered for his five-year stint with the Lakers, pairing with Magic Johnson to capture two NBA titles.

Later in the interview, Thompson admitted to being starstruck while covering the Fever last season. “When I was leaving the Gainbridge Arena at a loading dock, Caitlin Clark walked right by me, and I froze. I didn’t say hello to her. How about that?” he said.

“My favorite basketball player, outside of Klay, was right there in front of me. There she was. And I said, no, I can’t do it…Caitlin Clark was right there next to me.”