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Which WNBA legend was Caitlin Clark's ‘LeBron James’ growing up?
Caitlin Clark, WNBA rookie who's become an inspiration to girls aspiring to step into the basketball world, opened up about her own favourite player as a kid.
There’s no denying the “Caitlin Clark Effect” in swing at the WNBA, opening the women’s league to a wider international audience. However, the Indiana Fever #22 rookie wouldn’t have ascended the steps of the big league if it were not for all the WNBA legends that came before her.
During a recent press conference, Clark bared her hearty sentiments about a basketball player whom she holds close to her heart and who was like her “LeBron James as a kid.” The sports legend is the one and only former Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore.
The four-time WNBA champion and 2014 MVP is set to retire her jersey during a pregame ceremony at Target Centre on August 24, 2024 – the same day Clark’s Fever will likely play her WNBA idol’s Minnesota squad. Earlier this year, Moore even paid a surprise visit to the rising star by travelling to Iowa on College GameDay ahead of the 22-year-old player's opening WNBA game in Dallas.
Despite all the divisive chatter about Clark in the media, she probably gained her most memorable words of praise from her own childhood idol. Moore declared the #22 guard was “a lot more than stats.” The Lynx superstar told USA Today then: “She tries to bring that passion and joy to her community. I look forward to seeing how she uses her influence, how she’ll make her community better, her teammates better.”
Caitlin Clark's favourite player, Maya Moore, was like her “LeBron James” growing up
“If you would have told me that as a young kid, I would be playing in the game that [Moore’s] jersey gets retired at, it’s very full circle for me,” Clark said. “She was my favourite player ever growing up, and that was who I loved watching. I still think of her as like, she’s like my LeBron James as a kid,” Clark said during a press conference.
Clark is a longtime superfan of the WNBA star, who will be the fifth player in Lynx history to have her jersey hung from the Target Centre rafters. Moore will join fellow Lynx players Lindsay Whalen (#13), Rebekkah Brunson (#32), Seimon Augustus (#33) and Sylvia Fowles (#34).
Akin to how Clark is being touted as one of the front-running potential claimers of the Rookie of the Year award this year, her WNBA idol won the title in 2011. Over her eight-year WNBA career, the Connecticut collegiate star has also won Olympic gold medals alongside Team USA in 2012 and 2016.
The Minnesota Lynx legend is cutting her playing days short to deliver a significant assist of her career elsewhere. She’s stepping away from the basketball court to help with her now-husband’s release in 2020 from wrongful imprisonment. Moore married her then-family friend Jonathan Irons in 2020, shortly after he was released from a 22-year-old wrongful conviction in Missouri. Even then, Moore had put her WNBA career on hold to help Irons.
“My basketball experience helped me navigate this battle. To have a long-term goal is like going through a season: you need to have poise and trust different teammates to do their job. A lot of the skills I’ve been able to display on the basketball court helped me have what I needed to navigate this taxing and emotional process,” she said in 2020.
