Former NBA Star Draws Clear Distinction Between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers
Former NBA player and 2015 All-Star Jeff Teague made a lot of waves with comments he made about Indiana Fever icon Caitlin Clark during a December 23 episode of the "Club 520 Podcast".
"Caitlin [Clark] would not score a point on Bronny [James], bro," Teague said when asked who would win a one-on-one game between these two rookies. "She might not even get a shot off, bro."
Later on, Teague asserted that Bronny would beat A'ja Wilson "20 to 0" if they were to play.
Teague also said of Bronny and Clark, "He would beat her by 60 [points]. He would legit beat her 20 [to] 0. [LeBron James' other son and Bronny's younger brother] Bryce James would beat her 20 to 0.
"He is 10 times more athletic than her," Teague continued when comparing Bronny and Clark. "He can do everything better than her. She's a girl, bro."
However, Teague wasn't so dismissive of Clark during the entire podcast. At another point, he drew a clear line between her abilities and that of UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers.
"She got hurt, I think that kind of hurt her a little bit," Teague said of Bueckers. "She was super cold before she got hurt. But now, I think she's good, but I don't think she's JuJu [Watkins]. And I don't think she's Caitlin. And at one point, I used to think she was better than Caitlin."
A bit later on, Teague added, "I've just seen Caitlin do a lot more with less."
“She [Paige] ain’t Caitlin, I don’t think she ever was” 🤷🏽♂️😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/y7fclmAIGk
— E.A.🤴🏾🛸🦬 (@crashoutking1) December 28, 2024
The conversation then turned to what UConn would accomplish with Clark at the helm (the assumption being winning championships), so Teague was clearly alluding to what she accomplished at Iowa with less talent. And of course Clark's accomplishments at the WNBA level as a rookie with the Fever perhaps added to the takeaway.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.