{"id":250569,"date":"2026-06-29T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/we-dont-need-you-any-more-emmanuel-acho-claims-wnba-would-be-better-without-caitlin-clark-with-fever-star-causing-bigger-distraction\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T09:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:46:12","slug":"we-dont-need-you-any-more-emmanuel-acho-claims-wnba-would-be-better-without-caitlin-clark-with-fever-star-causing-bigger-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/we-dont-need-you-any-more-emmanuel-acho-claims-wnba-would-be-better-without-caitlin-clark-with-fever-star-causing-bigger-distraction\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;We don&#8217;t need you any more&#8221;: Emmanuel Acho claims WNBA would be better without Caitlin Clark with Fever star causing bigger &#8220;distraction&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5185280\" data-slug-id=\"2801327\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been in the news after Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas pressed on Claro&#8217;s throat during a controversial call last week.<\/p>\n<p>The incident has sparked debate about the physical fouls against the Fever star since she arrived in the WNBA. Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/nfl\/super-bowl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">NFL<\/a> player turned analyst Emmanuel Acho called the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year a &#8220;distraction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nThanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>While Acho acknowledged Clark&#8217;s impact on the league on the &#8220;Speakeasy&#8221; podcast, he claimed the WNBA is better off without her.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"bets-today-poll\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"preview-card-holder bets-today-poll\">\n<p><span class=\"date\"\/> \u2022 <span class=\"time\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The WNBA would be better without Caitlin Clark, because she is a bigger distraction than she is an additive. &#8230; Caitlin got the necessary eyes there but now that the eyes are there, we don&#8217;t necessarily need her anymore,&#8221; Acho said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline top\" data-tab=\"top\">\n<p>Looking to predict NFL playoff Scenarios? Try our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/nfl\/nfl-playoff-predictor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"top\">NFL Playoff Predictor<\/a> for real-time simulations and stay ahead of the game!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Caitlin did what only Caitlin could do and we don&#8217;t necessarily need her to do anymore. Thank you, Caitlin, we can take it from here.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Acho said that the league needs to stop &#8220;coddling&#8221; the Fever star:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Unless we can take off our gloves for Caitlin Clark and stop trying to act like she&#8217;s a Messiah, the WNBA could and would be better off without Caitlin Clark, at least without this version of everybody coddling, caressing and catering to Caitlin Clark.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While the refs didn&#8217;t call a foul on Clark during the game, Thomas has been handed a one-game suspension and a $1,000 fine by the league.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Chaitanya Prakash<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/nfl\/news-we-need-more-emmanuel-acho-claims-wnba-better-without-caitlin-clark-fever-star-causing-bigger-distraction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been in the news after Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas pressed on Claro&#8217;s throat during a controversial call last week. The incident has sparked debate about the physical fouls against the Fever star since she arrived in the WNBA. Former NFL player turned analyst Emmanuel Acho called the 2024 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}