Why Reggie Miller Keeps Insisting Caitlin Clark’s NBA Comp Is Payton Pritchard

Reggie Miller doubled down on his take that Caitlin Clark’s game is like that of Celtics’ Payton Pritchard. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

There may be only one person in the world who believes Caitlin Clark’s game is most similar to that of Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, and that’s Reggie Miller. But the NBA analyst apparently has no regrets about making his original comparison, and adamantly doubled down on it in a recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.

Miller made some waves when he said Clark’s NBA comp was Pritchard during the Fever superstar’s NBA broadcast debut on NBC last month, causing Clark to make a rather bemused expression.

Miller took some time to more thoroughly explain his comparison, clarifying that he only meant Clark and Pritchard were alike due to their similar “games” and nothing more.

“Obviously everything blew up after that because they’re saying her look, like she felt disrespected. This is people saying she felt disrespected,” Miller told Dan Patrick. “The question from Maria [Taylor] to me was, ‘Who does her game remind you of?’ It wasn’t the question of historically or stature-wise, who is she compared to? Because if that was the case, obviously the W and the WNBA, she has brought so much attention and eyes like a Stephen Curry.

“...I was going by game alone. Who does her game remind you of? And if I look at Payton Pritchard... they’re very similar. He’s probably a better scorer once he gets into the paint, but I was talking about it in terms of, she loves to go left, step back three. Deep three. That’s Payton Pritchard. Throw it ahead. Get the ball back. Make quick moves. Assist. To me, that was Payton Pritchard.”

"I was going by game alone, like who does her game remind you of? And when I look at Payton Pritchard... they're very similar."

– Reggie Miller on comparing Caitlin Clark to Payton Pritchard. (@Nutrafol) pic.twitter.com/nH0ak5itZn

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 3, 2026

Miller said he didn’t notice Clark’s seemingly surprised reaction to his NBA comp but maintained that game-wise, Clark was not a Steph Curry type.

“Stephen Curry is more off the ball now,” continued Miller. “Caitlin Clark has the ball, like Payton Pritchard has the ball all the time. It’s just that Payton Pritchard to the common fan isn’t as well-known as Stephen Curry, but to the basketball people, people really love Payton Pritchard.”

Miller joked that if he had to answer the question again, he would say Clark was like “Payton Pritchard, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Cade Cunningham, SGA—she’s all of them.”

Caitlin Clark’s true NBA comp should be Trae Young, not Payton Pritchard

Kudos to Miller for not backing down from his viral take, but... hm. There surely are better comps out there. Clark herself didn’t seem to mind the comparison, yet one still can’t help but wonder whether the Clark-Pritchard discussion is doing a disservice to the WNBA guard.

Everyone can agree Clark’s effect in the WNBA is much closer to that of Curry’s in terms of how she’s helped grow the league over the last two years and how her opponents defend her. As Miller notes, Clark’s game doesn’t mirror Curry’s given that the Warriors star is much more seasoned in his constantly active off-ball movement, something that Clark doesn’t really incorporate on the court.

But Clark’s natural and fitting NBA comp feels closer to Wizards’ Trae Young than Pritchard. Both are ball-dominant four-level scorers who lift their respective teams with their scoring and playmaking abilities (and tend to turn the ball over a lot due to their high-usage roles). The one thing both Clark and Young undeniably excel at is creating bountiful opportunities for their teammates, often helping others achieve big games when their own shot isn’t falling (both led their respective leagues in assists two seasons ago), and both can easily drain logo threes as well. Whereas Pritchard usually comes off the bench to provide instant offense—he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2025—Young is considered more of a prized franchise talent to build around, like Clark.

At the end of the day, there may not be a perfect one-player NBA comp for Clark that combines both her versatile game and off-court impact. There are, however, less-than-stellar comparisons, and with the new WNBA season just a few months away, Miller might want to rethink his.

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