Women's Fastbreak On SI

ESPN Anchor Compares Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark to Steph Curry and LeBron James

ESPN's Elle Duncan made an interesting comparison for two of the WNBA's biggest superstars.
Grant Young|
Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) react in the second quarter in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) react in the second quarter in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It feels inevitable that women's basketball superstars Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers will continue to be compared as their respective careers progress.

There are some valid reasons for this, especially given their massive platforms, the fact that they entered college basketball at the same time, and some of their past competitions against each other.

And it isn't solely direct comparisons these two icons are subject to, as ESPN host Elle Duncan compared them to two NBA legends during a December 3 episode of "The Elle Duncan Show".

"When someone says Steph Curry is their favorite player, more so than LeBron, I can 100% understand why they make that argument," Duncan said. "And Steph and Caitlin are much more similar, and I would say that Paige and LeBron are much more similar in terms of efficiency, the defensive part of it, the well-roundedness of their game.

"But that doesn't take away from the legacy player that Steph is," Duncan continued. "And I think similarly, what Steph was able to do — which is what Caitlin has been able to do for a lot of young girls — is they see themselves in her. You don't have to be 6'8", you don't have to... look, necessarily, the part."

Duncan then reiterated, "Paige is a little bit more of like a LeBron, in my mind, in terms of just getting the full package in terms of efficiency."

Perhaps the final aspect of this comparison is whether Clark and Bueckers will end up with more WNBA championships by the time their respective careers end.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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.

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