Like most people, the WNBA has never really caught our attention. There have been moments over the years where you see occasionally great plays, and as John Wooden once said, the basic fundamentals of the game are often superior in the WNBA than they are in the NBA. But you also see of lot of basic plays that aren’t well executed. We saw this a lot this season with Angel Reese before she was injured – she’d get a shot and miss…often quite badly. You’d see in the Olympics too, where players would miss seemingly easy shots or not be able to finish plays.
Women’s basketball is evolving though, and getting better, and Caitlin Clark has put that on a much faster track.
She’s playing at a level that no one else has or can (yet) and the best aspect of her emergence as the best player in the league – and the mark of only the rarest players – is that she elevates the rest of her team to heights they could not reach without her.
The most obvious examples of this are Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, who were both brilliant passers. Not only did their teammates learn that they could get the ball at nearly any time, they all became much better passers as well. It’s the best sort of infection.
You’ll see that in these highlights of the Indiana Fever’s win over the Dallas Wings. There are plays where Indiana just moves the ball like poetry.
Clark has completely transformed her team and the rest of the league has no choice but to catch up. She’s the most compelling player in basketball today and we don’t mean just the WNBA. There are plenty of guys in the NBA who could learn a thing or two from her. She’s not just scoring. She’s not just passing. She’s orchestrating her team and bringing her teammates up to a higher level, and only the greatest of the greats can do that.
