17% of flagrant fouls in the WNBA this season have been on Caitlin, and it's not that they've come by the nature of the game, where accidents happen or heated moments boil over, she's been purposefully targetted infintiely more than any other player.
It only stands to reason that if someone is watching her getting roughed up far more than any other player, than they're going to have a more severe reaction as a result. This is only compounded by the notion that she's bringing attention to the league that otherwise wouldn't be there, so Chuck's essentially saying that, they shouldn't be too rough on her because it's not good for the growth of the game, and fukks up everyone's pockets.
Is the racial dynamic part of how folks feel the need to protect her? Well, I guess that's more relative to the society that we live in, rather than anything directly about her standing in the WNBA. Do you think these brothas would give a fukk if any other white woman was getting roughed up? Of course, they wouldn't, either because they wouldn't be paying attention in the first place, or because the fouls committed wouldn't be an outlier to fouls, in general.
The folks that actually watch hoops are getting behind her because she's a generational talent and she's living up to the hype.
Which, ironically enough, the publicity and fanfare that she generates actually helps out all the other Black women in the league, because it drives up their monetary value as a result. It's an almost paradoxical situation where getting behind this white broad is actually getting behind the sistas too.