Caitlin Clark‘s final NCAA game is the biggest one of all — a fight for the national championship against the heavyweight South Carolina Gamecocks, who entered the game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with a perfect 37-0 record. Even still, Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes have gotten used to being in the national spotlight, drawing praise and support from some of the best basketball players around, past and present.
Among the top NBA players, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has been a vocal supporter of women’s basketball, most recently chiming in during Iowa‘s nail-biting victory over Connecticut in the Final Four. But on Sunday, James took to X again to shine the spotlight on Clark — and fiercely call out her detractors.
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James made it clear that he is a big Clark fan by saying “if you don’t rock with Caitlin Clark’s game, you’re just a flat out hater” in a strong rebuke of analysts and former players who have cast doubt over the two-time Naismith Player of the Year‘s accomplishments at Iowa.
Clark’s “NBA-style” game features impressive passing and playmaking, but her three-point range — an ability to make shots seemingly from anywhere — has been praised by James and Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who is the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals.
But some current and former players, such as Lynette Woodard and Diana Taurasi, have not been quite as supportive, even as Clark has transformed Iowa — and women’s basketball at large — into must-see television. Clark this season broke the record — men’s and women’s — for points scored in an NCAA career, and her Hawkeyes never made it to a national final prior to last year. Now, they’ve done it in consecutive seasons.
Clark’s next stop is the WNBA, where the Indiana Fever will make her the #1 overall pick in the 2024 draft on April 15. How much adjustment she needs to pro basketball remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure — James and other basketball icons will be on her side.
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