OKC Thunder and Indiana Fever Draw Comparisons from Hall of Famer

Although both teams are from different leagues, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Fever do share some similarities.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) points to the other side of the court Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

For anyone following basketball over the last year, the name Caitlin Clark is among the most recognizable across the sport.

Since staking her claim as one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time as part of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark was selected by the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Since joining the roster, she's not only performed as one of the league's best rookies but an All-Star level player.

It's not often NBA and WNBA teams draw comparisons between each other, but when a talent like Clark emerges, those comparisons have started to come through more often.

During Indiana's win over the Dallas Wings, commentator and Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman compared it and Clark to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I believe they're going to win a championship somewhere in the near future," Lieberman said. "They're young, they're the second-youngest team in the WNBA. They remind me a little bit of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the second-youngest team in the NBA."

Although the Thunder don't currently have a rookie reaching that status, the comparison does make some sense. Both are two of the youngest teams in their individual leagues, both have found success over the last year. Oklahoma City jumped from the Play-In Tournament to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while the Fever have jumped to the No. 6 seed in the league after a 1-8 start.

The catalysts to Oklahoma City's massive shift were the trio of MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, ROTY contender Chet Holmgren and the ever-improving Jalen Williams. Ironically, Indiana's All-Star duo of Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell paired with Clark make for a similar enough trio.

It's a bit of a stretch to compare both the Thunder and Fever at the same level for the current season considering their difference in seeding, but claiming they could both win a championship in the next few years is not out of the question. Each team has a young roster, high potential and a franchise cornerstone good enough to lead them to the mountaintop, it just make take them different lengths to get there.

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