Caitlin Clark needs to shoot more. That is the primary takeaway Skip Bayless drew from the Indiana Fever’s 113-90 victory over the Chicago Sky on Sunday. Clark finished that game with 37 points, a career-high eight three-pointers made, and 10 assists. And she did this while taking 24 field goal attempts, well above her season average of 15.7 per game.
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For Bayless, the correlation between the volume and the output is straightforward. If she scores more when she shoots more, the solution is simple, and he broke it down in his video captioned, “Why Caitlin Clark, the W’s best player, NEEDS TO SHOOT MORE, like LeBron & Luka.”
“Sunday’s Fever at Chicago game was significant and revealing to me, because of Caitlin Clark. 37 points and 10 assists. She is obviously the best passer in the league. By far the best passer, a generational passer. But when called upon, as she was on Sunday, she showed you she’s also capable of being the most nuclear scorer… ” Bayless said in a 17-minute video on Tuesday.
“Aliyah Boston was out, as well as her 12.3 shot attempts per game. So Caitlin all of a sudden didn’t have to worry about getting Aliyah her shots… Kelsey Mitchell is averaging, again, 17.1 field goal attempts per game to Caitlin’s 15.7… I think Sunday showed you that Caitlin should be taking the most shots on this team. It’s time for her to shoot more shots.”
Beyond the Chicago game, Bayless also pointed to the Fever’s 110-107 win over the Seattle Storm in July as further evidence. Caitlin Clark set a career high of 45 points in that game, and took an above-average volume of shots, attempting 18 field goals on the night. For Bayless, these are not isolated performances.
The way he sees it, Clark has leaned too heavily into her identity as a generational passer. In part, he believes, because the enormous spotlight and constant criticism she operates under have conditioned her to prioritise creation for teammates over shot-taking for herself.
Rather than forcing shots and drawing further scrutiny, she defaults to making the safe, team-first play. But the Chicago game, in Bayless’s view, proved she does not have to choose. She can be an elite passer and an elite scorer simultaneously.
Bayless even drew a comparison to LeBron James and Luka Dončić, two transcendent playmakers who have both had to learn how to balance their generosity as passers with the enormous scoring responsibilities their teams needed them to accept. That, in his view, is the juncture Clark has now reached.
The next evolution of her game is not about becoming a different player; it is about embracing the full weight of being a superstar who can control a game through both dimensions simultaneously. In fact, he believes Clark taking more shots would do more for the Indiana Fever than Mitchell continuing to lead the team in attempts, especially with the playoffs drawing near.
With five games left on the Indiana Fever’s schedule before the playoffs and Caitlin Clark joining the likes of A’ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier to represent Team USA at the 2026 FIBA World Cup starting on September 4, who knows? Maybe Clark may just find more of an affinity for shooting along the way.