Caitlin Clark book author dishes to The Post on what sets the Fever star apart

While Caitlin Clark became an instant household name during her collegiate career at Iowa, she has faced a great deal of scrutiny throughout her first two WNBA seasons.

The entire world has seen a lot of Clark in the past few years, but Christine Brennan has been there firsthand for the Fever star’s rise to superstardom.

The award-winning USA Today columnist’s new book, “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports,” highlights the star’s ascent and her impact on the sporting landscape.

Whether it’s cheap shots, criticism from her peers or controversial takes from sports media’s biggest talking heads, Clark has faced it all over the past few years.

“Everything was thrown at her — everything — more than I think any other athlete has had to deal with,” Brennan told The Post. “Questions, every topic, polarizing topics in our country, and she handled it all with grace and class. She always looks you in the eye when she answers a question. She doesn’t get angry about a question.”

Athletes getting angry with questions is something Brennan is familiar with, as she was at the forefront of some drama after asking then-Connecticut Sun forward DiJonai Carrington if she had intentionally hit Clark in the eye while defending a pass and then laughing about it with teammate Marina Mabrey during a playoff game last season.

She details the controversy in her book, and how Carrington and teammate DeWanna Bonner each took exception to the question and confronted Brennan about it.

“They wanted to ban me,” Brennan said of the WNBPA Players Association’s call for her press credential to be revoked. “I don’t think the NFL would want to ban a journalist.”

But Clark’s grace in handling strenuous coverage and scrutiny doesn’t only set her apart from some WNBA stars.

“I covered Tiger Woods the length of his career, and he would mope and not like a question and not want to talk,” Brennan said. “Caitlin Clark is the exact opposite. She is ready and willing to answer every question. She goes on with an answer and sometimes will go off on a tangent and then help you out with more information. She’s terrific in that way.”

During her rookie season last year, Clark was victim to a hard hip-check foul from then-Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Charter, a play which drew Carter’s teammate Angel Reese out of her seat on the bench to applaud.

Less than two minutes later in real time, Clark was brought aside for a live on-court interview ahead of the fourth quarter.

In the heat of the moment, Clark kept her poise.

“Yeah, that’s just not a basketball play,” Clark said. “But you know, gotta play through it. That’s what basketball’s about at this level.”

Her handling of the situation impressed Brennan and left her thinking about what could have been in that situation.

“I say in the book how lucky the WNBA was at that moment that this woman would take the high road when a couple million people were watching,” Brennan said. “She could’ve said anything. She could’ve done the equivalent of a cheap shot back to Chennedy Carter. She did none of that.”

Love her or hate her, it’s evident Clark has changed women’s sports forever.

Her meteoric rise got the whole world watching.

Covering the league so closely, Brennan doesn’t see Clark getting the credit she deserves.

In the book, she notes an instance in which WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert talked for 27 minutes about the “historic developments” in the league’s 2024 season — without mentioning the Fever superstar a single time.

Upon asking specifically why Engelbert did not mention Clark at all in her news conference that took place during the WNBA Finals between the Liberty and Lynx, Engelbert responded, “You’re asking me why I didn’t mention Caitlin Clark during my WNBA Finals press conference? I didn’t mention any players in that press conference other than some of those from the Liberty and the Lynx who were participating in the Finals.”

However, Engelbert did mention two non-Finals players, A’ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston.

Brennan’s hope is for the world to see further through her book how “special” a talent —and person — Clark is.

“February 2023, just watching [Clark] for fun, I was drawn to this magical player and this magical moment where she wins the game,” Brennan said. “The feeling that I felt there was like I’m watching something really different and really special. … I never thought I’d live to see the day where there’d be people lined up for hours in the cold at Big Ten arenas waiting to get in to watch a woman play basketball.

“What is that? That’s historic; that’s magical; that’s intriguing; that’s fun. So, I hope people reading this book will come away with all of those feelings reliving the games in Iowa, reliving her first season with the Fever. Just feeling great about sports, feeling great about this player finding out about her behind the scenes that she is as good as you’d hope for.”