The GOAT will soon meet the star rookie. Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi will lock horns for the first time this season on Sunday. The game surely will be a thrilling 3-point contest as the two of the many bests in the business will try to prove who holds the supreme position over another. However, before their highly-anticipated face-off, the 2x WNBA Finals MVP had some friendly words of advice for the 22-year-old. What does she have to say to the Iowa sensation after taking multiple cryptic jibes at her?
After winning over LA Sparks tonight, Diana Taurasi mentioned Caitlin Clark’s team in her postgame press conference. She said, “Obviously, Indiana is a super talented young team. Gonna come in here and play well. I mean the beauty about being young is you don’t know any better. You can play carefree. You can just go in these buildings and let it fly. And we have to face experience knowing that coming here with an appropriate fear and respect and making sure we play really hard on both ends. I think we’ve done that for the most part of this season.”
Tonight, the WNBA’s leading scorer logged her 80th game with 5+ three-pointers made. She stands atop the entire league for most such games. After her is the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd in active players with 21 games for the same cause. Interestingly, she logged one such output in her last game against the Indiana Fever. She got the better of Caitlin Clark in her own game by popping 6 of 9 shots from beyond the arc. While the rookie with the reputation to pull up shots from Logo only added 3 of 7 for her team.
Another interesting thing is that Diana Taurasi seems to have mellowed down to the NCAA DI’s leading scorer. Earlier this week, she had more praises for the Fever guard.
Is Diana Taurasi finally extending a friendly hand towards Caitlin Clark?
In her shoot around media availability, the 42-year-old Phoenix star simply mentioned that playing against Caitlin Clark “will be fun.” Prior to that, she complimented her by saying, “That’s the ultimate sign of respect! When you come into the league and everyone’s eyes are on you—and you’re getting the best defender every game, double-teamed on every pick and roll, face guarded, top lined—that’s respect from the other team.”
However, it is important to note that this has only happened now. Before, Taurasi was anything but affectionate towards the No. 22 of Indiana. In fact, she has taken some jibes at the 2x National Player of the Year suggesting that “grown women” were waiting for the “superhuman.” which her fans took in the negative lighting. Consequently, she also called the fans who have followed the first overall pick from college basketball to the WNBA “sensitive.”
It is delightful to see that one of the greatest players to grace the floors of the league is potentially open to taking Caitlin Clark under her wings. But surely, if anything happens, it will be after Sunday’s game. It is only safe to say that these two hoopers who are making records with every other game will fill the Footprint Arena with many memorable events and rain threes left and right.
