If you're not tuning in to watch the WNBA at this stage, then you really should. Obviously Caitlin Clark has brought a whole new level of exposure to the game, but your hometown Phoenix Mercury aren't doing too badly either.
They're headed to the playoffs and have a 42-year-old in Diana Taurasi who continues to have a positive impact despite making LeBron James look young relative to her exploits in the game. Alongside Kahleah Cooper, Brittney Griner and Natasha Cloud, they have a chance to make some noise this postseason.
Former Phoenix Suns great Charles Barkley is also a fan, and he has plenty of thoughts on the treatment of Clark by the league.
Speaking on the always divisive Bill Simmons podcast, Barkley lambasted what he perceived as jealously from other players and coaches in the league at the attention Clark receives, saying that "these ladies, and I am a WNBA fan, they cannot have f**ked this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried". A strong statement.
Barkley was only warming up though, going on to claim that "if you got people in a room, a bunch of dudes in a room, we couldn’t have came up with a masterplan with what these women have done. This girl is incredible."
"[Caitlin Clark] is on pace to generate the most points in a season in WNBA history." 😳 @chiney on how Caitlin Clark makes the Fever so dangerous on offense ✍️ pic.twitter.com/vnFhVaT1Xh
— espnW (@espnW) September 5, 2024
The former league MVP is not wrong there, the most 20 point and 10 assist games in regular season history belongs to Courtney Vandersloot, who has 10 in 421 games, and counting. Taurasi sits second, with nine across 559 games. Already Clark is third with seven, and this has been achieved in only 34 games. In fact she's on a streak of 20/10 games as of this moment. Insane.
Stats that have not gone unnoticed by the public - with Clark the biggest star in college sports last season - and Barkley lamenting the fact her time in the league has unfolded the way it has. "What she did in college for women’s basketball, what she’s doing in the WNBA… the number of eyeballs she brought from the college to the pros and these women to have this petty jealousness."
Despite all of the chatter around whether she should be the Rookie of the Year or if she should have gone to the Olympic Games in Paris, Barkley has loved how Clark has handled herself to this point. "The thing I love about her, she never says a word".
Barkley did also go on to say her play at the point guard position reminded him of another former Sun, in the form of Jason Kidd. "Now when you see her play, she’s playing without the ball. It reminded me a lot of Jason Kidd. He was the best I’ve seen playing without the basketball." The Suns will be hoping Tyus Jones can provide some of what Clark has so well for her Indiana Fever next season.