Dallas Wings freshman Paige Bueckers is currently seated at the top of the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year rankings. The former UConn Huskies star has drawn comparisons with Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, as both being in the same high school class, are slowly becoming the faces of women’s basketball.
In a recent episode of “The Hoops Cap” podcast on Youtube on Friday, July 18, college hoops analyst Mark Zanetto asked his co-host Tee Baker about why exactly has Bueckers’ transition into the league been smoother than that of Clark’s, especially when the former Iowa Hawkeyes star was still a WNBA rookie.
“Smoother than Caitlin Clark? I am trying to think, I mean I think part of it is just the general narrative that was surrounding Caitlin Clark. I think that the WNBA really went through a growth period and still is with Caitlin Clark because she sort of is bigger than the league, frankly. She transcends it in the same way that athletes like Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps like they transcend their individual sport, and I think Caitlin Clark did for women’s basketball,” Baker explained. (18:03)
“And, it also came with this like narrative that there was a counter villain in Angel Reese, and I think we love a, you know, villain, hero narrative in sports,” he added.
Clark is currently in her sophomore season in the WNBA, where it has unfortunately been a injury-ridiculed one for the budding star. Despite this, the Fever have uncorked an overall record of 12-11, and is currently the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. For Bueckers and coach Chris Koclanes’ Wings, they are sitting as the seventh seed in the West with a 6-17 record thus far.
Tee Baker Claims That Caitlin Clark’s Attention Is Bigger Than Paige Bueckers’
Later on the most recent episode of The Hoops Cap podcast, right after he talked about the hero versus villain narrative of Angel Reese versus Caitlin Clark, analyst Tee Baker claimed that while Paige Bueckers still has a lot of attention and onlookers towards her side on whether or not she’ll become a WNBA star, Caitlin Clark’s is still very much bigger according to him.
“So, I think there was just like this different level of public narrative that surrounded Caitlin Clark that made everything she did happen under a microscope. I don’t think Paige has that same microscope like she has a pretty big microscope, but it definitely isn’t the same and isn’t as critical. So, I don’t know. I think she just gets like to live her life a little bit more than Caitlin Clark,” Baker explained. (18:51)
Both Bueckers and Clark recently participated in the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday, July 19, at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with the former playing her first and the latter becoming a sudden courtside team captain as she was ruled out of the game on Thursday, July 17.
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