Caitlin Clark scored 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 16 minutes in her return against the LA Sparks. However, those 4 turnovers were costly in a 106-92 loss against the Fever. And that’s what the Club 520 basketball podcast, featuring former NBA champion Jeff Teague and his older brother Marquis, discussed, with Teague and his fellow hosts offering blunt criticism on Clark’s shortcomings.
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“Caitlin Clark and these f—— turnovers, bro. I know that you’re the only person like me who likes to publicly talk about how bad they are. But bro, we went on this stretch yesterday with her in the game, and it just got bad. I know she’s back from an injury but…” said DJ Wells, and the Teague brothers pointed to a bigger problem.
“She holds the ball too long,” said Jeff Teague, to which his brother immediately agreed. “She does, she definitely holds the ball too long, bro. Like she wanna score or make the assist?” added Marquis.
Caitlin Clark’s struggles with turnovers are nothing new. As per Fox Sports, the Fever point guard is currently leading the league with 4.6 turnovers per game. The second player on the list, Alyssa Thomas, hasn’t even breached the 4.0 mark and currently has 3.8 per game.
In fact, her career turnover rate is even higher at 5.2 after three seasons. While Clark does lead her team with 7.9 assists, dropped passes contribute to some of those turnovers; Jeff Teague isn’t the first to point out Clark’s turnover problem.
NBC analyst Kate Scott also addressed Clark’s high turnover rate during a game in May, although he thought the Indiana Fever star’s assists made up ground for those turnovers.
“So I looked things up, just compared to the M-NBA, leaders in assists. Nikola Jokic, about 10 assists per game, four turnovers a game. Cade Cunningham… about nine-and-a-half assists per game, four turnovers a game himself.” Scott said as per Fox Sports.
However, Scott also agreed that Clark was the one holding the ball and setting up a lot of the plays. “Why are people (saying), ‘Caitlin’s turning the (ball over)’? Yeah, because she holds the basketball for the majority of the 40 minutes.”
With a 13-9 record, the Fever is already underperforming on pre-season expectations as a clear WNBA Championship favorite. Whether this turnover issue causes any more problems for Indiana as the season progresses remains to be seen.