Caitlin Clark gets glowing reviews from NBA stars during stunning NCAA tournament run
Even NBA stars can’t believe what Caitlin Clark is doing.
Caitlin Clark is the biggest basketball star in the world at this very moment. The Iowa Hawkeyes’ supernova just pushed her program into the Final Four in the women’s NCAA tournament for the second straight year with a game for the ages in a national championship rematch with LSU. More than 12 million people watched her 41-point, 12-assist performance, a bigger number than all but one NBA Finals game in 2023.
Clark’s crossover appeal is undeniable. Her deep three-pointers and prodigious passing ability is already up there with the all-time greats. It feels like the entire country is gawking at what she’s doing right now — and that includes some of the biggest NBA stars in the world.
Luka Doncic spoke about Clark’s performance during the Dallas Mavericks’ shootaround on Tuesday. He downplayed comparisons between himself and Clark because “she shoots it better than me.”
Doncic says he watched part of the Iowa-LSU women’s game last night. Asked whether Caitlin Clark reminds him of him, he smiled and said she’s more like Steph Curry. “She shoots it better than me, that’s for sure. pic.twitter.com/wlvcZfQUuG
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) April 2, 2024
Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young also spoke about Clark in a recent interview with Bleacher Report. Young talked about how hard it is to defend Clark’s deep shots when she’s so good with her driving ability.
Young pointed out how nasty her ‘hang dribble’ is to read the defense and figure out how to attack.
The Boston Celtics were also keeping a close eye on Clark during their game on Monday night. After the Celtics beat the Hornets, all the talk in the locker room was about Clark. Via NBA.com:
“How many 3s does she have?” one player asked.
When told it was nine, he shook his head and responded, “Man, that girl can ball.”
“Caitlin Clark is stealing the show of basketball, not only in the women’s game but also the men’s game,” Celtics forward Sam Hauser said. “She’s just really good. And she’s definitely worth the watch.”
Of course, NBA stars marveling at Clark didn’t begin this week. It’s been happening her entire college career. When Clark dropped a career-high 49 points on Michigan back in Feb., LeBron James talked about how special it is to be in that type of zone. Via The Athletic:
“A lot of you guys have asked, ‘What does it feel like to be in a zone?’ Once a guy is a zone, there’s nothing you can do,” James said. “Once a guy decides he wants to stay in a zone – or you’re seeing Caitlin the other night, when she broke the record – there’s nothing you can do.”
Stephen Curry is the player Clark is most often compared to. Curry blessed her with this quote earlier this year.
“Caitlin is special,” Curry said. “Her story, journey, the record speaks for itself and it’s cool … it’s just dope from a scoring perspective, from a shooting perspective, just a hooper that’s doing what she’s doing.”
Clark is not the next Stephen Curry or Luka Doncic or Maya Moore. She’s the first Caitlin Clark. To steal a phrase, we are all witnesses to her stunning ascent in the basketball world. It just keeps getting better.