Breaking: Caitlin Clark’s Teammate Fed Up With Her Role In The Team And Threatens To Leave
NaLyssa Smith is dissatisfied with her place on the Indiana Fever now that Caitlin Clark has joined. She criticized head coach Christie Sides in a recent social media “like” post.
The third-year forward wants to spend more time on the court and become more involved.
Smith was selected second overall in the 2022 WNBA Draft after being named a First-Team All-American at Baylor. She averaged 13.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 30.7 minutes in 32 games as a rookie. Last season, she averaged 15.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 28.5 minutes in 31 games.
Despite her outstanding numbers, Smith played on a team that was terrible enough to secure the No. 1 overall pick in back-to-back years after being selected second the previous year. It would not be an exaggeration to state that she was one of the brightest spots on a small team.
This season has been unusual. Aliyah Boston is in her second year. Clark has come.
Smith has averaged 9.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in just 22 minutes in the first eight games. That line isn’t horrible, but it doesn’t reflect the reality of the previous three appearances.
Sides played her only 12 minutes in the Fever’s win over the Sparks on May 24. Smith played just 19 minutes in each of the last two games. She scored three points on three attempts on Tuesday night.
There are two sides to the debate about NaLyssa Smith.
On the one hand, fans believe that a player who (nearly) averaged a double-double in 2023 should start in 2024. They attribute Smith’s minor drop to his limited sample size. There have been times when she has been incredible!
On the other end of the spectrum, Smith has proven to be a defensive liability on several occasions, and fans believe she was only as good as she was in the past due to the squad surrounding her being so bad. Her early-season turnover problems did not help her cause.
Sides seems to believe that Smith is better suited off of the bench and has been using her that way. One of Smith’s most recent “likes” on X indicates that she disagrees with Sides’ decision.
