Diana Taurasi has some thoughts about how male journalists treat WNBA rookies and we're LIVING

“Transition periods don’t escape anyone,” she said. “That is something we all have to go through. Sometimes you find a way to get through that your first year, sometimes it takes you two years, sometimes it takes you three years. Everyone has a different journey and a different path. Sometimes you gotta give these kids some grace.”

For those unfamiliar, something of an uproar happened after Clark was left off the Summer Olympics Team for Paris. USA Today wound up writing two completely opposing opinion articles on the topic, with one saying leaving her off was a missed opportunity and the other saying it was the best decision for everyone.

Related: The USA Olympic women’s basketball team is so awesomely queer — and missing one surprising player

The Iowa native, who plays as the #22 Guard for Indiana Fever, has had a lot of media attention during her short career, something Taurasi also thinks people should take into consideration for the rookies.

“They’re a month into their WNBA careers,” she said. “They’re only gonna get better. They’re only gonna get more comfortable with everything around them.”

Although she thinks some of the criticism may be a bit too much at times, she also says the praise can be equally too extreme, urging critics to find a middle ground with how they treat the rookies.

Additionally, she noted how much of the venom toward Clark, as well as other rookies like Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, comes from male journalists who don’t know as much about the sport.

“You have to be educated on the topic,” she said. “You have to know the history of the sport. They know the history of the NBA… But can you tell me who was the first champion of the WNBA?”

Touché, and we totally agree, especially when she added the gap in respect when it comes to women’s sports.

“All of a sudden there’s a lot of eyeballs and everyone has a lot of opinions,” she said. “A lot of them, in many ways, are not educated enough to make those types of opinions.”

Sounds familiar about a lot of different things, but that’s neither here nor there. We’re just glad the rookies have someone like Taurasi in their corner, and we look forward to seeing her hopefully help the USA win some Olympic gold next month.