There are probably hundreds of clips of Caitlin Clark’s brilliant play that would earn her a legitimate comparison with the legendary LeBron James. The deep threes, the dazzling assists, the creative layups. Unfortunately, that also includes travel.
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Caitlin Clark actually got WNBA broadcasters comparing her travel on Saturday night’s game against the New York Liberty immediately to a LeBron James layup. Specifically, early in the third quarter, Clark appeared to finish a smooth driving layup. But then the officials ended up whistling her for traveling. While the replay showed she actually took an extra step before scoring, it was the CBS broadcast team’s reaction that quickly grabbed attention.
As the replay rolled, one broadcaster quipped,
“When I first saw it, I thought she took one extra step that maybe she didn’t need here. Shot fake, one, two, yeah yeah, that was a LeBron layup there,” analyst Ice Young said, drawing immediate laughter from her fellow play-by-play caller, Jordan Kent.
The clip, shared on SportsCenter’s Instagram page while the game was still in progress, sparked instant discussion among fans, many of whom also actually agreed with the traveling call. But maybe the broadcaster would not be entirely wrong to draw that comparison.
The play did genuinely look like a LeBron layup. It showed Clark driving through defenders Raquel Carrera and Marine Johannes, attempting to knock in two points while the Fever were five points behind. And even if it was ultimately called a travel, even the great LeBron himself has had instances in his career where he got whistled for traveling on a layup attempt. Funny, but either way, the comparison seemed to hold up.
A more perfect LeBron comparison, however, would be what Caitlin Clark produced the night before.
In the Indiana Fever’s Friday night game against the Seattle Storm, she made WNBA history by recording the league’s first-ever 40-point, 10-assist game. Specifically, she finished with a career-high 45 points, which was also a new Indiana Fever franchise record. Alongside that, she also contributed with ten assists, four steals, and two blocks, helping the Fever to a thrilling 110-107 victory.
That game also saw Clark become the fastest player in league history to reach 200 career three-pointers. She did it in just 74 games, shattering Katie Smith’s record of 81 games. With only 29 minutes played in that game, her 45 points were the most ever in a WNBA game by a player who played 30 minutes or less. So by all measures, that looked considerably more like a LeBron James-caliber performance.