Imagine a neighborhood restaurant that hires an up-and-coming star chef, but then doesn’t get her the ingredients she needs, lets the other kitchen staff hassle her, barely mentions her in the restaurant’s own advertising, and does little to protect her when the rest of the staff starts taking swings at her. What would you call that kind of management? Feckless, at best? Maybe even worse? Well, that’s more or less been the story of the WNBA’s handling of Caitlin Clark since she arrived in the league in 2024, and this season, the situation has gotten even shakier.In Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes star who was drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever, the league brought in the most popular player it had ever had, but it still hasn’t figured out how to be ready for her. Meanwhile, the WNBA’s newest expansion franchises have become instant hits, especially the Golden State Valkyries, the team leading the league in attendance. The Portland Fire have also been drawing sellout, record-setting crowds, and the Toronto Tempo sold out their season tickets before ever playing a game. That’s what makes the Clark situation so perplexing: The league clearly knows how to stand up a brand-new franchise in a brand-new city and turn it into a hit almost overnight. But it hasn’t figured out how to do right by the player who created much of that demand in the first place.Take commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s now-infamous no-show on The Dan Patrick Show in July. Patrick and his crew waited nearly two hours for Engelbert, who was attending a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, only to be told that her own public relations staff had advised her not to do the interview. Patrick, who is not exactly a “gotcha” journalist, had every right to be irritated. This was the WNBA’s chance to go on one of the most respected shows in sports media and address, among other things, its handling of Clark. Instead, the league treated the invitation like a date it decided at the last minute to send a “Hey, sorry, something came up, not gonna make it” text. A league that has never really been scrutinized by national sports media is showing that it doesn’t know how to cope with the scrutiny once it arrives.