Caitlin Clark's on-court genius has caught and kept the attention of an NBA legend who knows a thing or two about scoring.
Clark — the University of Iowa's superstar guard, last season's AP Women's College Basketball Player of the Year, and the projected 1st overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft — dropped 44 points, eight rebounds, and six assists on 13-of-31 shooting in Iowa's 80-76 win over Virginia Tech at the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte on Thursday. While over 15,000 fans witnessed Clark's vintage performance in-person, NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade watched the game from the comfort of his own couch — and was blown away by what he saw.
While the Iowa game was underway, Wade posted on X, "I'm drinking some Wade Rose Wine and watching women's college hoops! Caitlin Clark is simply good at basketball! That's all..."
I?m drinking some Wade Rose Wine and watching women?s college hoops! Caitlin Clark is simply good at basketball! That?s all?
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) November 10, 2023
In addition to the clever plug of Wade's wine brand, it's nice to see NBA greats like Wade take note of Caitlin Clark's greatness. Across two regular season games, Clark is now averaging 36 points per game, eight assists, seven and a half rebounds, and is shooting 36% from three-point range. What's perhaps craziest of all is that Clark knows she can play better.
During a postgame interview with ESPN Thursday, Clark said that, "This win speaks a lot about our team, speaks a lot about our culture... We really battled through. We didn't shoot the ball well, I didn't shoot the ball well."
While Clark did shoot an uncharacteristic 5-of-16 from three in the game, the fact that she still managed to drop 44 points — and that five three's made is what she deems "not shooting the ball well" — is a testament to just how good Caitlin Clark really is.
Clark and her #3 ranked Iowa squad's next game is on Sunday, where they remain in-state to play at Northern Iowa. Although the game likely won't be broadcast on national TV like Thursday's win was, perhaps Dwyane Wade will find a way to tune in live and witness Clark perform once again. Now that he doesn't have his own games to play, maybe he'll even attend one of Clark's college games in person. Or maybe he'll wait until she's a WNBA mainstay.
