LSU’s Angel Reese, left, and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, right, pose for a photo before the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger

I feel compelled to respond to Gene Lyons’ column wherein he smugly expresses indifference to the WNBA because of the culture war issues that pundits (like him) have superimposed on Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Reese’s teammate, Chennedy Carter.

(Lyons dismisses Carter as a “comparatively unknown Chicago guard — a veteran of dirty plays. Carter was a three-time All-American at Texas A&M, and was the first player at A&M to score 2,000 points in just three seasons. She was selected fourth overall in the 2020 WNBA draft. In her rookie year in the WNBA, she averaged 17.4 points per game).

Yes, she fouled Clark.

But as Clark observed, that isn’t unusual in basketball.

It’s not a politically significant incident.

Lyons professes to be a basketball fan. If he were really interested in the game, he’d be enthralled by the athleticism and skill of athletes like Clark, Reese and Carter who are elevating the game nightly.

They aren’t focusing on the tired, silly tropes that men like Lyons focus on.

They are serious athletes playing serious basketball and deserve to be treated with more respect.

(Lyons dismisses Carter as a “comparatively unknown Chicago guard — a veteran of dirty plays. Carter was a three-time All-American at Texas A&M, and was the first player at A&M to score 2,000 points in just three seasons. She was selected fourth overall in the 2020 WNBA draft. In her rookie year in the WNBA, she averaged 17.4 points per game).

Yes, she fouled Clark.

But as Clark observed, that isn’t unusual in basketball.

It’s not a politically significant incident.