WNBA Legend Dubs Caitlin Clark 'The Absolute Truth'
Cynthia Cooper knows ball.
The women's basketball legend won four consecutive WNBA championships with the Houston Comets (1997-2000), which is still the longest dynasty in league history. She also won WNBA Finals MVP in all four of those seasons, won WNBA MVP awards in 1997 and 1998, and was a four-time All-WNBA First-Team inductee. All of this came after she won two NCAA Championships as a USC Trojan.
This is why Cooper being both a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee is more than deserving. It also explains why her enthusiastic praise of Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark is so impressive.
Cooper first asserted her animated support of the Fever rookie when speaking with a fan last week. She then doubled down on that sentiment during a September 10 appearance on The Mark Jackson Show.
"Let me tell y'all something," Cooper said. "I just came from the Dallas [vs.] Fever game, and Arike [Ogunbowale] is the truth. Okay?
"Caitlin Clark, 28 [points] and 12 [assists]? Winning on the road with Kelsey Mitchell? The absolute truth!" Cooper continued. "I'm sitting there like 'Oh my god!' But [Clark] is so crafty."
Cooper then added, "This is what people don't know about Caitlin: She is not just a three-point shooter. She's a great passer. Not a mediocre passer, not so-so. She is a great passer. But also she's crafty. I saw her get the ball and lay it up on a backdoor cut... and she's just a rookie. She's just a rookie. That level of greatness, that level of play on a consistent basis as a rookie puts you in the upper echelon of any league."
"Caitlin Clark... THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH, I'm sitting there like 'oh my god'"
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) September 10, 2024
Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper speaks on Caitlin Clark's rookie year and the importance of WNBA Legends embracing the next generationpic.twitter.com/yFRCvO9Rs1
It's refreshing to hear a pioneer of women's basketball praise Clark in this way; especially because some other WNBA legends haven't been so eager to do so.
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.