Riley Gaines stands up for Caitlin Clark, lambasts Angel Reese for inflammatory deleted tweet

Caitlin Clark has been the talk of the town in the WNBA after Charles Barkley called out her colleagues for seemingly being too harsh on her.

Angel Reese appeared to throw shade at her fellow WNBA rookie, sending a controversial message on Twitter after the Chicago Sky upset the New York Liberty. Reese later deleted the tweet.

"And that's on getting a WIN in a packed area not just cause of one player on our charter flight.#SKYTOWN," Reese wrote.

Many people disagreed with her message, including former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines.

"Incredibly disheartening to see Angel Reese attack Caitlin Clark like this. Just entirely baseless and distasteful. The tweet screams jealousy and insecurity.

"Although, Caitlin Clark probably deserved this given she has white, straight, pretty & tall-privilege. Right, @sunny?" Gaines wrote Friday morning.

The second part of the tweet refers to Sunny Hostin, who claimed that Clark is more relatable to people since she's white and heterosexual.

Gaines has been a big supporter of Caitlin Clark, praising the former Iowa Hawkeyes star since her college days. Back in April, she called Clark a 'generational talent' after a 41-point performance against LSU, where Angel Reese played until this year.

Clark has made a huge impact on women's basketball since her NCAA days. Now, as a WNBA player, her name has brought more attention to the competition.

Nick Wright defended Caitlin Clark against comments about her race

FS1 analyst Nick Wright also responded to Sunny Hostin's comments, stating that Clark has earned all the praise she's received for a couple of years now.

"Do I think from a marketability perspective it helps that Caitlin Clark is a white athlete? Yes, I do. But do I think she's some great white hype, like she's being elevated based purely because she's a white girl? She's been excellent at every level, and even compared to rookies, she is playing excellent," Wright said on Monday's edition of First Things First.