Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are leading the way in the race for WNBA rookie of the year this season and Shaq has admitted that it is hard to separate the pair right now.
Shaquille O’Neal Praises Caitlin Clark
Legendary Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal has certainly had his say on the WNBA rookie of the year award this season and this week he on the side of Caitlin Clark.
‘Shaq’ has been harsh in his criticism of Clark in her debut WNBA campaign despite her sensational season so far, saying that the Indiana Fever star isn’t that impressive.
The NBA veteran insisted that despite Clark’s good year, plenty of other women in the WNBA have achieved similar feats to the rookie and have not been given their flowers.
Shaq says no one is hating on Caitlin Clark and that she needs to wait her turn
“I understand what everybody’s doing. Yeah you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet. Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi, we still got A’ja Wilson, if you’re gonna give (Caitlin) props make sure… pic.twitter.com/o0nqkNFfiZ
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 11, 2024
But this week Shaq was on Clark’s side, as he seems to have finally come round to the fact that the 22-year-old might just be as good as everyone says she is.
“When I see stuff on TV I’m like, OK, I’d like to see it in person. Well, I saw it in person,” the TNT presenter said. “She can play … from a basketball standpoint, she makes all the right plays, gets everybody involved, and she has that Steph Curry range.”
Clark is averaging 19.2 points, 8.5 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game in her first season for the Fever and she has broken some pretty remarkable records in her debut season.
Although she has broken countless records in her first year, the most impressive has to be Clark recording the first triple-double by a rookie in WNBA history and first triple-double in Fever history (she now has two this season).
A Close Rookie MVP Race Between Clark & Reese
Despite her dominance in the league, Clark doesn’t have a clear run at the WNBA rookie of the year award, with Angel Reese close behind the Fever superstar.
While he has been harsh on Clark this year, O’Neal has praised Reese to no end in her debut season and he admitted the rookie of the year title will be a close race this year.
“What makes it good for the game is it’ll be those two forever,” he said. “You can make little games of it. In college, Angel’s up one (national championship win). Now you can say, OK Caitlin’s in the playoffs, is Angel going to make the playoffs? Little games that you can play that keep their names going. I’m happy for both of them, I’m happy for women’s sports.”
With Clark making the playoffs with Indiana and Reese ending her campaign early through injury, surely there is only one winner in the rookie of the year category…
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