The Los Angeles Lakers, along with the rest of the NBA, might be eagerly waiting to see what happens in the 2024 NBA Finals but the 2024 WNBA season is in full swing.
The WNBA has experienced a massive uptick in viewership and interest since Caitlin Clark was drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever. Clark, a superstar guard during her collegiate career at Iowa, has brought new fans and viewers to the WNBA but is going through growing pains as a rookie.
Clark has been the recipient of several hard fouls since turning pro, with the most recent incident coming in a game against the Chicago Sky where Chennady Carter knocked her to the ground. Lakers guard Austin Reaves can relate to Clark’s experiences so far and offered some advice.
“I think you preach to just stick with it,” Reaves recently said in a Zoom call with reporters. “Every rookie coming into professional sports, you have growing pains where you go through the physicality change from the college to the pros. I think the way teams are guarding her and showing her a lot of attention is just a respect to what she can do on the court.
“So I don’t think anyone should take it as anything different and I’m sure she’s not. I’m sure she’s watching film, doing everything she can do to get better every single game. But I’m sure it’s more of a respect thing and I’d tell her that, that if there girls didn’t see her to be the player that she is and think she is then they wouldn’t be physical with her and trying to get after her to see how good she is… You just tell her to stick with it because like I said, every rookie in any sport you play goes through growing pains. I’m going into year four and I’m still going through growing pains, still learning the game every single day. So just tell her to stick with it.”
Reaves is the second Lakers player to give Clark advice, with LeBron James offering some perspective on her situation as well. Clark has steadily improved with each and every game and her presence has certainly helped boost women’s basketball as a whole.
Caitlin Clark wore Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant’s shoes at Crypto.com Arena
Caitlin Clark recently visited Crypto.com Arena to take on the Los Angeles Sparks and played in a pair of Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant’s shoes during the game.
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