CHICAGO — From the moment President Barack Obama first stepped onto the national stage as a freshman senator from Illinois, his speeches and keynote addresses became a calling card. He could inspire and uplift, encourage and steady a nation.
At the newly opened Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago on Friday, he did so again with far fewer words.
In a surprise appearance ahead of WNBA All-Star practices, Obama spoke at length with WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike, interrupted the conversation to defend center Jonquel Jones, and inquired into the well-being of Breanna Stewart’s daughter. When he came to Caitlin Clark, he addressed the elephant of the weekend.
“Don’t let all this nonsense get you down,” Obama said. “You know, I always say, one of the things that was luckiest for me was I didn’t get famous until I was like 45. So I was an old-ass man. I mean, you’re my daughters’ age. They’ve not had that much immersion and nonsense. So don’t lose that joy. The game’s the game.”
Former President Obama gives words of encouragement to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark: “Don’t lose that joy. The game’s like the game. And you’re a hooper…you’re always hooping. And you are on a nice little run right now.” pic.twitter.com/srRWsquTls
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 24, 2026
Clark’s game has always been based on joy, and though she repeated again on Friday that she hasn’t lost it, it’s not as prevalent a feeling as it was when she led an overlooked Iowa team to back-to-back Final Fours.
She did, as she jokingly noted, recently celebrate her 24th-and-a-half birthday — a fact she only knows because it shares a date with the Fever mascot. At an age not far removed from being able to vote, she’s feeling political-level pressure.
“The president is probably one of the best people to understand how [the spotlight] might feel,” Clark told a group of reporters that included visitors from China and Brazil at yet another deep All-Star media scrum. “Obviously, I’m not on the same level as that. I want to make that perfectly clear. But there are going to be some people that love you and some people that hate you. And that’s just the reality of the world when you get into a position like this.”
The hate is at an all-time high, a sentiment repeated so often these last few months of Clark’s third WNBA season that it’s losing meaning. WNBA and union leadership are taking action, first meeting via videoconference on Tuesday to discuss, in part, the “racist, hateful, and abusive messages directed at players.”
The notable moments have all tangentially included Clark, most recently stemming from the Flagrant 2 assessed retroactively to Alyssa Thomas. Chelsea Gray shared a racist message that was sent to her from a man who placed bets on the Aces-Fever game. Everything and anything Clark does, or potentially does, or might be doing, is fodder for sides to throw tomatoes across party lines.
It began even before Clark made her first public appearance at All-Star festivities in Chicago. There was a column criticizing her flopping that invoked Emmett Till. She was called out for skipping Thursday night’s orange carpet kickoff and going home to Iowa to have her hair done, when she was actually there for a Caitlin Clark Foundation event.
As that online discourse and speculation swirl around Clark, the three-time All-Star began her weekend sticking to the business of being the name. She answered nearly 30 minutes of questions, both serious and fun, a typical All-Star whiplash she maneuvered as well as ever.
There are multiple versions of Caitlin Clark, a dividing line that Obama surely knows well. They come out at different times, and some parts not at all. Her public relations is one of them, giving just enough without giving all that much. The steely competitor said her hands were sweaty and clammy at Obama’s appearance. She asked for a photo, a question typically posed the other way around.
After morning practice, she took a seat on the sideline to complete the 2026 All-Star blue outfit with a sweatshirt, pulling the hood over her head and untying the new “White Label LX Promo” colorway of her Nike Caitlin 1. She stopped by WNBA Live alongside another long-time partner, State Farm, to visit with fans. Following another outfit change, she made her way further up Lake Michigan to the heart of the city for a fireside chat unveiling the third line of her Wilson basketball at the Chicago-based flagship store.
More media. Endorsement deal partners. The daughter of the Wilson general manager, clad in an Indiana Fever jersey. These are the real-life people Clark cares most about, not the constant thread of comments on everyone’s phones, and she knows which part of herself to play. They want to sell a lot of basketballs, she said at one point during her Wilson appearance. Again, as in the morning, she notes the dedication to inspiring young boys and girls.
She takes a jab here, another joke there. Yes, the new basketballs are dust-free, but why would they collect dust anyway? Go play! When her connection to two-time NCAA champion pitcher and two-time Most Outstanding Player Teagan Kavan is mentioned, she dryly jests she “got her right.”
Her dad, Brent, smiled and nodded in the front row when she said she would get in trouble as a child when she took her indoor ball outside. Or when she destroyed the garage door hitting a tennis ball with her (Wilson!) racket. Her mom reacts to the memory of a school project in which she listed her goals as a college scholarship, reaching the WNBA and getting a Bernese Mountain dog.
It was what everyone should expect out of Clark, a player her teammates consistently describe as goofy, fun and caring.
“There is definitely a misconception about who she is as a person,” Fever teammate Kelsey Mitchell said.
On Thursday, the StudBudz called Clark for help again on their popular All-Star live stream, a running half-joke that her status can help them out of any predicament. Clark returned the favor Friday, taking a beat before landing on Courtney Williams as an All-Star she’s most excited to play with who isn’t Mitchell or Aliyah Boston.
“Even getting on the bus this morning, everyone’s dragging a little bit,” Clark said. “Not Courtney. She’s fired up and ready to go.”
But being Caitlin Clark in the WNBA at this particular moment, she had an addendum: “But honestly, everybody. I think it’s fun to get to play with other people and obviously people who are still skilled and talented at what they do.”
Williams and Natasha Hiedeman, an “honorary” additional teammate in Clark’s mind, are frustratingly or endearingly online, depending on one’s vantage point. Williams used the block button constantly, though she said on Friday that there are times she needs to let people know there’s a real person behind the account.
The thing about social media is that we’re all living a version of a reality show, even those who don’t want to be. The most innocuous footage can be seen by someone 5,000 miles away within seconds, while conclusions are jumped to just as quickly. And on Friday, the unauthorized Clark show continued to reach new heights before Obama had even left the building, while his words and intention will stick with her for the rest of her life.
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