Caitlin Clark on LeBron James’ path to success after historic rookie season, says NBA champ

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has lived up to her LeBron James esque hype in the WNBA with her record setting season.

Caitlin Clark set the WNBA on fire and led her Indiana Fever to the playoffs

Caitlin Clark has seemingly destroyed all the pre-draft notions that she would struggle in the WNBA in her rookie season. Posting record after record, the 22-year-old helped her Indiana Fever to a playoff position, which led many to believe she was an MVP candidate. Some, like a former NBA champion, have likened her career path to a certain NBA superstar.

Kendrick Perkins was speaking on yesterday’s edition of NBA Today. When discussing with former WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike about the rookie’s performances, Perkins weighed in on Caitlin Clark.

All I was hearing was 'Oh it's going to be an adjustment for Caitlin Clark. She's gonna have to be used to physicality. People are going at her'. And they tried at it, and it didn't work. Here she is now breaking all kind of records. Here she is leading her team into the post season. She has lived up to expectations. I'm looking at her, the way I look at LeBron James.

Kendrick Perkins said

By that last part, he suggested Clark has been able to live up to the hype in the same manner LeBron James did. He feels with the dedication she has shown to her craft, she will likely become an All-Time just like the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.

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Kendrick Perkins mentioned that this shows that the Indiana Fever rookie is a student of the game. Not only did she work behind the scenes to improve her own game. But at the same time, she studied film to understand the opposition’s nuances.

Those two aspects helped Caitlin Clark increase her scoring as well as her assist rate per game. Enough to help her team score big wins en route to securing their first playoff berth in eight seasons. If she continues at this pace, MVP shouts will not be far off.

Caitlin Clark’s de-escalation committee keeping her away from suspension

Those MVP shouts will come in future seasons as she keeps working on her game. But one aspect she needs to work on is her constant arguing with officials. In her last few games, her father was forced to tell her to stop as he knew it was impeding her game. But in the WNBA, she has a whole new de-escalation committee.

That committee is headed by fellow All-Star Aliyah Boston who is generally the first to run and stop her rookie teammate from making matters worse. Other teammates too join in as they try to reign in the record-setting rookie from facing a suspension. They even joked about it in a recent post by the Indiana Fever official photographer.

But she does need to reduce her interactions with referees. Riling up opponents with her trash-talk is fine. But she is currently one technical foul away from getting a WNBA-enforced suspension. If it is in the playoffs, it will hamper their incredible run of form.