For those that subscribe to the notion that game recognizes game, the recognition received by Caitlin Clark speaks volumes about just how special the Iowa superstar is.
Clark, who has established herself as appointment viewing while rewriting the NCAA's record books during her senior year, has received high praise from some of the biggest names in the game. The latest to heap compliments on the three-time Big Ten Player of the Year is Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.
Garnett and Paul Pierce spoke glowingly of the women's college game during their "Ticket and the Truth" podcast. And while Clark is widely expected to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Pierce presented Garnett with this hypothetical question: Could Clark score if she played 30 minutes in an NBA game?
"She can get more than a bucket," Garnett exclaimed. "She can get more than 10. … She gonna give you more than 10 (points) — she can shoot and she got work, bro," he added while miming Clark's ballhandling.
Garnett is the latest big name from the men's game to speak highly of Clark, but he isn't the first. Here are some of the other major reminders that game does indeed recognize game.
MORE: Why Caitlin Clark decided to enter WNBA Draft
NBA players who have praised Caitlin Clark
Stephen Curry
“You can pick anybody that she talks about in terms of being an inspiration, if she picks something from our game, or models something from our game, I don’t ever take that for granted,” Curry said ahead of the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
“Caitlin is special. Her story, journey, the record speaks for itself and it’s cool … it’s just dope from a scoring perspective, from a shooting perspective, just a hooper that’s doing what she’s doing."
MORE: Caitlin Clark breaks Stephen Curry's single-season 3-point record
Kevin Durant
Durant's familiarity with Clark's game goes back several years, as he first saw her as a 17-year-old star on the AAU circuit. Durant recalled the moment during a 2022 podcast.
"She just commanded the whole game. I said, 'Who the hell is this? She is nice.' And they was like, ‘She's the best player in the country.' I was like, ‘Oh damn, I see it now.' … 'Yo, that's the best player in the country right there,' that s–– hits you out of nowhere, like, 'Let me focus in on her.'"
Shaquille O'Neal
"I'm gonna go on the record and say she's the best female collegiate player ever," O'Neal said during a TNT broadcast in February. "I said what I said. Ever. I ain't disrespecting nobody. It's just my opinion and I ain't gonna change it."
MORE: How to buy Caitlin Clark Nike shirt from commercial celebrating college scoring record
Charles Barkley
"She's a phenomenon," Barkley told Dan Patrick in February. "What she's doing for women's basketball is pretty incredible."
Damian Lillard
“I’m a huge fan of your game. Much respect to you," Lillard said to Clark in a video commemorating her breaking of the all-time NCAA women's scoring record. "I like the way you do it … You’re a real killer.”
MORE: LeBron James, Indiana Fever & more react to Caitlin Clark passing Pete Maravich
Coby White
White, who was in attendance for Clark's record-breaking performance against Michigan in February, made a lofty NBA comparison.
"Honestly, she reminds me a lot of — the way that she controls the game and play makes and gets everybody but also the stepbacks and her shot — she reminds me a lot of Luka [Doncic]," the 24-year-old Bulls guard told reporters.
“They both can control the game so well and get to their spots. She gets to any spot she wants to. She manipulates pick-and-rolls. She knows how to change her pace. She’s not really fast but she’s so deceptive with the ball that she can get past any defender.”
Andre Iguodala
"Caitlin Clark cold, G. We've been singing her praises for a while and she just keeps proving us right," Iguodala said on his Point Forward podcast.
