Caitlin Clark and Skip Bayless (CREDITS: USA Today)
During her time with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Caitlin Clark was an exceptional playmaker but was primarily revered for her scoring prowess. Her incredible shooting range and terrific finishing earned her comparisons to Stephen Curry. While she hasn’t scored as effectively in the WNBA as in college, her playmaking has been spectacular. This prompted Skip Bayless to compare her to another NBA icon.
On the Skip Bayless Show, the veteran analyst reminisced about her incredible scoring feats in college and noted how she’s evolved into a female John Stockton since entering the WNBA. He said,
“I’m talking about jump shooting, logo threes, never seen anything like that… Not set shooting, feet on the floor, jump shooting, flicking wrist, launching from logo effortlessly… Here was the female Steph Curry, yet right before your very closed eyes, Caitlin Clark has morphed into the female John Stockton.”
Bayless recalled a moment from Clark’s recent post-game conversation where she said, “I sometimes lose sight of the basket.” He believes that the Fever star gets so consumed with feeding her teammates that she forgets she’s the best scorer on the court. The analyst makes a valid point about her shift in focus on playmaking over scoring.
After 26 games, the rookie is averaging 17.1 points and 8.2 assists per game. She leads the league with 213 total assists, 41 more than the next-highest assist-provider. However, her penchant for passing the ball and refraining from shooting has drawbacks. The rookie leads the league in turnovers with over 145.
Bayless feels Clark’s natural playstyle is closer to Curry’s than Stockton’s pass-first approach. However, none of her teammates are remotely as good at playmaking as the rookie, so she’s forced to focus on facilitating first, affecting her scoring numbers. This could prove costly in her bid to win the Rookie of the Year award.
Skip Bayless on the Rookie of the Year race
Clark has been the frontrunner to win the award since draft night, but Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese has emerged as a serious contender to take home the coveted prize. The race will likely go down to the last game of the year. However, Bayless claimed Reese is his pick for now, but that could change as the season progresses. In a post on X, he wrote,
“I still have Angel slightly for R of the Y over Caitlin… Hard to look past Caitlin’s record-shattering turnovers. But this race changes nightly.”
Halfway into the season, fans, analysts, and current and former players are split on who should win the award. Both players will have to play exceptionally well in the second half of the season to swing the vote in their favor and beat their rival to the prize.
