The 2024-25 NBA season is nearing its end, with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers getting sent home in the first round of the playoffs and only five teams remaining as of Sunday morning. But the WNBA season is just getting underway, with second-year Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark playing her first game on Saturday.
The Fever moved to 1-0 on the season with a dominating win over the Chicago Sky, and Clark led the way. She finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, starting the 2025 season with a triple-double. This caught the attention of the entire basketball world, as they were anxiously waiting to see how Clark would tip off her second season.
LeBron was one of the players who had some instant reactions to Clark’s immediate success. He gave her a good luck message for the season just before her first game began, then congratulated her on the triple-double immediately after:
TRIPLE DUB CC!! Great way to kick off the season! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 17, 2025
Clark has had some of the most outspoken vocal support of any player in WNBA history, and for good reason. She is among the most dominant young players the game has ever seen, and a triple-double in the first game of her second season shows exactly that.
James knows a thing or two about entering the professional ranks as one of the most highly-touted young players of all time, and having to work to meet sky-high expectations. That’s surely part of why LeBron is so vocal in support of Clark, as there weren’t a ton of players that did that for him during his first few seasons back in the early 2000s.
LeBron James stresses teams win championships, not individuals
With Luka Doncic and LeBron James leading the way, not to mention Austin Reaves, there was a belief that the Lakers could make a deep postseason run. However, they would be eliminated in the first-round by the Minnesota Timberwolves in just five games.
While James and Doncic give the Lakers an excellent foundation, it was the play of the role players that ultimately made the difference in the series against Minnesota. The likes of Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo gave a major boost and overall the Timberwolves were just a more complete team.
And it is that point that stands out to LeBron the most. In a recent episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, the Lakers superstar stressed that it is teams who win championships, not individual players.
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