Stephen A. Smith insists Caitlin Clark shouldn’t have the ball late in games

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark had an uncharacteristically bad game on Thursday night against the Las Vegas Aces. The Fever star as she finished with eight turnovers and shot just 7-for-20 from the field, including 2-for-10 from three-point range.

However, Clark’s late-game miscues were even more alarming.

She had a chance to all but clinch the game with two free throws with Indiana leading by three points with just seven seconds in regulation. Making one of them would have given the Fever a two-possession lead with just seconds remaining. Instead, she missed them both, paving the way for Aces guard Chelsea Gray to send the game to overtime with a buzzer-beater three-pointer.

In overtime, Clark had a costly turnover with less than 10 seconds remaining, allowing Gray to hit a second buzzer-beater to win the game. After the game, Clark took full accountability.

“Obviously, that just can’t happen. Those are free throws I usually make. Certainly frustrating,” Clark said during the postgame presser. “Obviously, one of them gives us a two-possession lead. Kind of cost my team there for sure, so that’s on me.”

She’s admitted that she has to be better.

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game, and honestly it was me who made costly errors for us,” Clark said. “It’s on me to help us win. That’s my job; that’s what I get paid to do.”

Is Kelsey Mitchell better than Caitlin Clark?

However, if ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is right, she shouldn’t have to hang her head too much, as the ball shouldn’t have been in her hands in the first place.

“You can’t as a coach be giving the ball to Caitlin Clark just because she’s Caitlin Clark,” Smith said on First Take. “Not when you got a Kelsey Mitchell on the floor who is absolutely positively balling for you on a night-in, night-out basis, shooting better from the field, shooting better from three-point range, shooting damn near just as well from the free throw line, and at the same breath averaging three less turnovers a night.

“The best player on the Indiana Fever is Kelsey Mitchell. It’s about time we acknowledge that”

Heartbreaking: the worst person you know made a great point pic.twitter.com/6ToY6sgFiJ

— CFP (@sportsfan6718) August 7, 2026

“I mean, that’s the person, and she’s your leading scorer, Kelsey Mitchell. That is the person— when you see somebody producing like that, you got to get them the ball…

“But when you see the ball consistently in Caitlin Clark’s hands, it does make you wonder what the coach is doing. What are you doing? Are you responding to the narratives? Are you responding to the popularity? What a”re you doing? Because coaching-wise, I’m looking at Kelsey Mitchell and I’m like, that young lady needs to have the basketball in her hands when it counts most.

Clark had a bad night, but considering she’s in the top five in both assists and points per game, keeping the ball in her hands is always a great decision.

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