After refusing to ask a question about Caitlin Clark, Seattle Storm star Jewell Loyd was accused of fueling the narrative that the WNBA veterans dislike the star rookie

Jewell Loyd’s response to being asked a question about Caitlin Clark further fueled speculation on what the rest of the WNBA feels about the star rookie.

After the Seattle Storm’s 92-75 loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday, the 30-year-old guard was asked about Clark’s play and her thoughts on how the rookie’s adjustment has changed from when she entered the league to now. Rather than answering the question, Loyd deflected and instead elected to focus on the Storm rookie Nika Muhl and second-year guard Jordan Horston.

“Yeah, I’m gonna talk about our rookies,” Loyd began to reporters. “Nika’s been great – she’s been awesome. Putting her work in. I think Jordan has been phenomenal too, the second year of her growth. Our focus is on our team and what we need to do as a community to be better.

“So I feel like what this group has in the locker room has made us better and that’s the biggest importance for us: Focusing on our personnel and what we need to do to get things going.”

This is not the first time Loyd refused to talk about Clark after a game. After the Storm’s 85-83 win over the Fever earlier in the season, Loyd was asked what it meant to face off against the star rookie in front of a sold-out crowd in Seattle.

Instead of talking about Clark, the star guard made sure to divert attention back to her squad and what they were doing. “It’s never about them, it’s about us,” Loyd said after the game. “So we appreciate you guys coming here and making a statement.”

Jewell Loyd and Caitlin Clark battled in Indiana, with the Fever defeating the Seattle Storm ( 
Image:
Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

After Loyd’s display, many fans on social media claimed the Storm guard and the rest of the league had a vendetta against Clark. “The hate for CC is so blatant,” one fan wrote. “Just acknowledge her skills and growth then go on to build up your teammates. A lot of these ladies never learned basic decorum.”

Another wrote, “@jewellloyd I have no idea why these players want to be disliked so badly. Not one time has Caitlin Clark refused to speak on any of the great players she’s been asked about. Even now, put a mic in front of her, she’d heap praise on JL. Sad.”

Angel Reese makes WNBA history hours after Caitlin Clark broke record

Overall, Loyd’s response to a question centered around Clark had many choosing sides, with some fans applauding the guard for choosing to focus on her team’s rookies. “I’m a huge Fever and CC fan and I wanna say, I respect and applaud this answer. She is doing what she’s supposed to and supporting her team,” another added. “Good for her and good for them.”

Although Loyd and Clark battled, with the former tallying 26 points and four assists while the latter finished the game with 23 points and nine assists, it was the star rookie who had the last laugh. While Clark’s stat line is impressive in its own right, what makes it more impressive is the fact that she broke the all-time rookie assists record in the same game.

After the game, Clark thanked the referee who gave her a technical foul for slapping the stanchion. “The ref told me it was disrespectful to the game of basketball. It reminded me of the technical I got in college where I said dammit, where it’s like a personal frustration,” she said. “I think he fired me up to continue to play a lot harder… so I want to thank him!”