LeBron James comes to Caitlin Clark’s defense.
The Lakers superstar and future Hall of Famer supported the Hawkeyes star on X while watching the South Carolina-Iowa national championship game — which Clark was at center — after Clark faced criticism before the last match of the season.
“If you don’t like Caitlin Clark’s game, you’re just a FLAT OUT HATER!!” James wrote in an article on X. “Stay away from these people!! PLEASE.”
Clark and Iowa then lost to South Carolina, 87-75, marking the latter’s third national championship since 2017.
But the message from James, whose Lakers play the Timberwolves on Sunday, follows comments made by, among others, future WNBA peers Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart.
Taurasi, a WNBA legend and 10-time All-Star who enters her 20th season in 2024, said she thinks Clark will struggle in her WNBA debut — which is expected to begin after the April 15 draft — after the Indiana Fever probably selected her. No. 1 overall.
“The reality is coming, there are levels to this thing,” Taurasi said during an appearance on SportsCenter when asked about Clark and South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso entering the draft.
Both should be the best choices.
“And that’s just life, we’ve all been through it,” Taurasi continued. “You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come (play) with grown women who have been playing professional basketball for a long time. I’m not saying that won’t translate, because when you If you’re good at what you do, you’re just going to get better. But there’s going to be a transition period, where you’re going to have to give yourself a little grace as a rookie.
Stewart also said Clark needed a college title to be considered an all-time great.
“Yeah, she needs a championship), I think so,” Stewart said during an appearance on SiriusXM College Sports Radio. “Because then you’ll look back 10 years and you’ll see all the records she broke and the points and stuff like that, but everyone knows, your goal when you play college basketball is to win a national championship, so you need one.”
Additionally, Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard also claimed that Clark, in fact, did not break his scoring record.
“I’m the hidden figure, but not anymore,” Woodard said. “My criminal record was hidden from everyone for 43 years. I don’t think so… I’ll just go ahead and get the elephant out of the room: I don’t think my record has been broken because you can’t duplicate what you don’t duplicate. So unless you come with a men’s basketball and a 2-point shot.
Clark led the Hawkeyes with 30 points in their loss to South Carolina on Sunday, hitting 10 of 28 shots and five 3-pointers.
New York Post
