The ability to transcend a sport and do something that has never been seen before is rarefied air. Only a few in basketball history have done that, such as Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Stephen Curry. But there aren’t just transcendent men’s basketball players, as Caitlin Clark has undoubtedly taken the women’s game to new heights due to her scoring and long-range prowess.
One of those transcendent all-time greats compared Clark to another GOAT on the men’s side. O'Neal, whose game was just about as polar opposite as Clark’s, does see similarities in her impact with that of basketball’s three-point king in Curry.
“Why you think people love Caitlin Clark besides her skills?” O'Neal asked Reese, to which she replied, “She can shoot threes from the logo.”
“We never seen that before,“ O'Neal said. ”That’s my point. Steph Curry, a little kid. You know why I love Steph Curry? Coz I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen that before … She’s doing stuff we’ve never seen before. Never seen nobody do that on a consistent basis.”
O’Neal then recalled watching Clark play against Reese and the LSU Tigers in the Final Four. The Hall of Famer and four-time champion was simply in awe at the consistency that Clark displayed from deep.
“I was like, she’s not going to hit that shot, and bam! Damn, well, she’s not going to hit that shot, and bam,” remembered O’Neal. “If I say 10 times, ‘You’re not going to hit the shot,’ and you hit the shot, that means you’re the truth.”
Many wondered how Clark would adjust to the more physical professional game in the WNBA, just as they did with Curry leaping to the NBA in 2009. After a slow start to her WNBA career, Clark looked every bit like the player who dominated the college game, and she didn’t leave her unparalleled range and shooting ability behind her in Iowa.
She broke the WNBA rookie scoring record, coincidentally formerly held by another LSU great in Seimone Augustus, and averaged 19.2 points per game. She also made 122 three-pointers, which is the second-most in a single-season in WNBA history, and a mark which led the league last season. For her efforts, Clark was named WNBA Rookie of the Year, receiving 66 of 67 votes, with Reese claiming the other. She also became the first rookie since Candace Parker in 2008 to make All-WNBA First Team.
O’Neal also mentioned the consistency in which Clark connected from deep, something she shares in common with Curry, who is the NBA’s all-time leader in made three-pointers. Nothing illustrates Clark’s consistency more so than a video that was posted on the Indiana Fever’s official X account the day after O’Neal’s appearance on Reese’s podcast premiered.
So, Clark, 22, still has some work to do to match Curry in that regard, and that may be the one thing that could still improve in her game. Not only does Curry have a high volume, but he has a high efficiency as well as his career three-point percentage is third-best amongst active players and 12th best in NBA history. Meanwhile, Clark ranked first in made three-pointers in the 2024 WNBA season but was 30th in three-point percentage.
However, Clark is not a finished product, and she said as much recently. She knows she can still take her game to another level, and an improved efficiency is surely something she will work on.
