Kelsey Plum Says Her Jab At Team Clark After WNBA All-Star Game Was ‘A Really Bad Joke’

After some reflection, Kelsey Plum has admitted that taking a jab at Caitlin Clark and her teammates during WNBA All-Star Weekend might not have been the smartest move.

As you'll probably recall, the WNBA All-Stars took the court in Indianapolis last month wearing black T-shirts that read "Pay Us What You Owe Us" — a reference to the ongoing (and testy) negotiations over the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). After the game, reporters asked Plum about the shirts.

"It was a very powerful moment," the Los Angeles Sparks star said. "As players, we didn't know that that was going to happen. It was a genuine surprise. The T-shirt was determined this morning. Not to tattletale: zero members of Team Clark were very present for that."

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, who was on Team Clark, looked visibly uncomfortable at this comment and told Plum that she didn't really need to point that out.

"I'm just trying to make the situation light, OK?" Plum replied.

I was in the room for this press conference, and I assure you it was every bit as awkward as it seemed on video. Here was this tremendously unifying moment for the players — with the nearly sold-out crowd firmly in their corner — and then Plum had to throw cold water on it with this unnecessary jab at Clark and her teammates.

And it was unnecessary, by the way. Just two days prior, Caitlin, Ionescu and the rest of Team Clark were all present for an intense, two-hour CBA meeting between the WNBA Players' Association and league officials. It's not like they weren't participating in the labor talks.

MORE ON THAT: As CBA Deadline Looms, WNBA Players Dig In, Send Clear Message At All-Star Weekend

Further, a few players told me that Saturday morning's T-shirt meeting was a last-minute thing. WNBPA Vice President Napheesa Collier was literally knocking on players' hotel room doors, telling them to get out of bed and meet in 10 minutes. So it's entirely possible that all or most of Team Clark had no idea the meeting was even happening.

Kelsey Plum Admits She Messed Up

During an appearance on Sue Bird's Bird's Eye View podcast on Friday, Plum was given an opportunity to clear the air on her viral comment. 

"Oh, I made a bad joke," Plum said. "I made a really bad joke. ... I honestly was like, 'Hey, team Clark, they didn't make it to the meeting either,' just making a joke, trying to make the room lighter.

"I was making a joke that they were hung over, even though our [Team Collier] nickname was hungover. So I was like, 'At least we made it.' Obviously, we were all on the same page, we all wore the shirts, we all were unified."

Plum said she realizes now that her "bad joke" took away from the moment. But she chose not to respond to the backlash (until now) because she didn't want to seem defensive.

Maybe just work on reading the room a little better next time, Kelsey.