The Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky game from Sunday was significant in more ways than one. But analyst Skip Bayless decided to focus on Fever guard Caitlin Clark’s skills, calling her “the best player in the WNBA” and a “generational passer”.

On August 25, Skip Bayless discussed Sunday’s game on his podcast, The Skip Bayless Show. The analyst felt Clark could draw inspiration from NBA stars and Los Angeles Lakers teammates LeBron James and Luka Dončić to improve her game.

“She's [Caitlin Clark] starting to remind me of LeBron and Luka in the dilemma they have faced their whole career about who exactly are they?” Bayless said during The Skip Bayless Show on Tuesday. “You look at LeBron and Luca; the big advantage they have is LeBron's 6'9” tall, Luka's 6'7” tall to Caitlin’s 6 feet. But both are generational passers.”

In the August 25 episode of The Skip Bayless Show, the analyst believed that if Clark could use elite court vision and physical size the way James and Dončić did, she could unlock her true potential as one of the league's best players.

Bayless felt that Clark could use her height and shoot more often rather than making passes, she could improve the chances of scoring points.

“I love what I'm seeing from Caitlyn Clark, but I love Sunday because she shows you what can happen when she actually gets a little selfish and shoots more than Kelsey [Mitchell] shoots,” Bayless said.

He pointed out that Clark usually averages 15.7 shot attempts per game. However, she took about eight extra attempts on Sunday at Chicago, scoring 37 points. So, just taking a few additional shots per game elevates her into an offensive powerhouse.

“All of a sudden, Caitlyn Clark said, ‘Okay, I'll shoot it far more than I'll try to pass it.’ Caitlyn Clark attempted a career-high 24 shot Sunday at Chicago, and she scored 37 points to go with her 10 assists,” Bayless added during his analysis of Clark’s plays.

Bayless believes that fully realizing the advantages of her height and utilizing it on the court by shooting more could further improve the Fever guard’s game.

But he hasn’t been quite as supportive of her Fever teammates. In fact, he has even gone as far as to blame them for Clark’s shortcomings.

Why Skip Bayless thinks Clark’s Indiana Fever teammates are holding her back

Following the Fever’s matchup against the Toronto Tempo, Bayless criticized Caitlin Clark’s Fever teammates for not converting enough of her assists. He believed that had they stepped up, Clark could have had a higher number of assists.

“Obviously Caitlin Clark can't have 7 turnovers (5 in the 3rd quarter) against better teams. But her 7 assists tonight could've been 10 or even 12 if her teammates had cashed more of her wizard feeds,” Bayless wrote in his X post shared on August 19. 

Per College Sports Network, Bayless also lashed out at Boston recently for singling out Kelsey Mitchell worthy of being an MVP, despite knowing that Clark was also in the MVP conversation. 

The analyst believed that Boston’s comment was an indication of internal rivalry and made life even more difficult for Clark, who was often sidelined by the league.

Written by

Arundhoti Palit

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit