Candace Parker Likens Caitlin Clark-Aliyah Boston Duo to NBA Championship Pairing
Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston form one of the most formidable (young) duos in the WNBA. They complement each other about as well as any other guard-center pairing out there, but since Clark missed most of last season, we haven’t even seen the two play together at full force. In 2024, Clark was still a rookie and had to figure a lot of things out on the fly.
Now, in their third and fourth season, Clark and Boston are more experienced and know each other much better. They should be able to reach new heights this season—both individually and as a duo. Two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker envisions an unstoppable future for Clark and Boston and likened the two to a duo that has found plenty of success in the NBA.
“This duo could be a problem and will be a problem for the league…I mean, that’s going to be like the Jokic-Murray pick-and-roll,” Parker said on Post Moves, her podcast with Boston, when Clark appeared as a guest on May 20.
This isn’t the first time Boston has been compared to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Jokic has made his mark in the NBA as one of the best passing bigs and offensive hubs ever. In April of last year, Fever head coach Stephanie White cited Jokic as a blueprint for how she wanted to use Boston. Clark is a bigger star than Jamal Murray, but the two share an outstanding ability to knock down 3-pointers and rack up assists.
Since 2018, Jokic and Murray have led the Nuggets to a championship, two Western Conference Finals, and six Western Conference Semifinals. If everything goes right, the Fever will find just as much—or more—sustained success with a team built around Clark and Boston.
There are a lot of expectations for Clark and Boston this season
As two of the best young players in the WNBA, Clark and Boston always face a lot of expectations. Being compared to an NBA championship duo only increases those expectations.
2026 should be a big year for Clark, Boston, and the Fever. Clark is healthy and primed for her best season yet, Boston will be expected to build on last year’s All-WNBA Second Team and All-Defensive Second Team honors, and the Fever entered the season as one of the top contenders.
The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty have the most experienced, star-studded rosters in the league, but the Fever and Atlanta Dream were right behind them talent-wise. The Fever are 2-2 right now after tough losses to the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics and sit in tenth place. But it’s early in the season, and every team is still figuring things out. If the Fever can stay healthy, there’s no reason to doubt their ability to string together wins and soar to the top of the standings.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.