Charles Barkley believes Caitlin Clark is being grossly mistreated by her fellow WNBA players so far in her career ... and he's chalking it all up to "petty jealousness."

The Chuckster teed off on the current state of the W during an interview with Bill Simmons this week ... claiming despite all Clark has done for the organization, her peers are dropping the ball by being grade-A haters.

"These ladies, and I'm a WNBA fan, they cannot have f***ed this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried," the Hall of Famer said.

"This girl is incredible. The number of attention, eyeballs, she's brought to college and the pros, and for these women to have this petty jealousness ... you're saying to yourself, 'Damn, what is going on here?'"

Clark certainly hasn't received the warmest of welcomes since going No. 1 overall in the 2024 Draft -- from hard fouls during games to negative comments made by her opponents, it's clear some of her counterparts aren't willing to accept the impact she's had on the league just yet.

Chuck praised the 22-year-old for keeping her composure and not stooping to everyone else's level through it all ... and while he said he loves and respects all the hoopers in the league, he clearly wants all the nonsense to come to a screeching halt.