It is hard to blame the Atlanta Hawks for trying to join the March Madness conversation on social media.
The mediocre Hawks (33-36) are 5.5 games behind the Detroit Pistons for sixth place in the NBA Eastern Conference, staring at a third straight season resulting in an appearance in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
With no game until Saturday, Atlanta's social media admin decided to take a trip down memory lane by posting star guard Trae Young's college basketball stats from his days at Oklahoma.
The well-intentioned post turned got plenty of interactions, but they came for all the wrong reasons as Caitlin Clark fans discovered a grave omission about the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.
The Hawks highlighted Young's remarkable "one-and-done" campaign for the Sooners in the 2017-2018 season, when he led the NCAA in points per game (27.4) and assists per game (8.7).
The issue was with the caption, which claimed Young was "the only player to ever lead the NCAA in points and assists."
pic.twitter.com/4RpAxlKxOt
— paige (@_paigerettig92) March 20, 2025
The Hawks did not specify that Young was the only men's basketball player to achieve the feat. As countless fans pointed out, Clark also led the NCAA in points per game and assists per game in the same season.
"Incorrect!!" said one reply. "He is only men's player to do so. Caitlin did so as well for women side."
Delete
— Amy (@Amyn222222) March 20, 2025
"I havent seen it mentioned yet, but I believe Caitlin Clark did this more than once," said a Hawkeyes fan.
In fact, she did it twice at Iowa. Clark averaged 27 points and 8 assists her sophomore season in 2021-2022, becoming the first women's player to lead the NCAA in both categories.
She put up 31.6 points and 8.9 assists to lead the country her senior year after narrowly missing the mark in 2022-2023, when she finished second in the country in scoring and first in assists.
Not only has CC changed the popularity of women's basketball, she and her fans are going to change how we talk about basketball and making sure that posts like this are called out https://t.co/DZnM2mnh7s
— Obessive Runner (@ObsessiveRunner) March 20, 2025
"Sorry, but y'all deserve this…" responded an X user as the backlash grew.
"Glad the quotes & replies are calling this out," said another reply. "Put some respect on the all time leading scorer & her multiple seasons of leading in both points/assists."
The Hawks massive blunder served as a harsh lesson in how the "Caitlin Clark effect" can backfire. The post crossed 200,000 views on X Thursday evening, the most of any post by their account on the platform since March 13. Ironically, that post also contained inaccurate information about the release of Playboi Carti's album.
Related: ESPN Facing Backlash for Caitlin Clark Move
Related: Sabrina Ionescu's Post Turns Heads After Blockbuster WNBA Trade
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This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM.