Who is Caitlin Clark’s NBA comp?
Caitlin Clark declared for the WNBA draft and set the NCAA points record days later. For NBA fans who've missed her exploits and want to get to know the next big thing, this is her NBA player comp.
Caitlin Clark has had quite the year. First, she captured the imagination of a nation as she guided Iowa to the NCAA tournament Final, then she set the NCAA all-time scoring record during a blazing regular season and declared for the WNBA draft. As arguably the greatest collegiate basketball player in history, Clark will soon embark on what should be a decorated professional career.
If you’re primarily an NBA fan, you may have missed the bulk of Clark’s incredible work at the University of Iowa outside of highlights on social media. However, with her final NCAA tournament and the beginning of her pro career looming, there’s no better time to get acquainted. And there is no better way to provide some perspective for NBA fans with a passing interest in the collegiate game than by finding Clark’s NBA player comparison.
Caitlin Clark's production is ridiculous
Caitlin Clark is an omnipresent offensive goddess. She reigns fire from above but remains as cold as ice. Regardless of the outcome, she’ll leave your defense shattered and jaw dropped; such are her feats.
On a statistical level, what Clark is doing in the NCAA is ludicrous. She leads the NCAA in Win Shares, Offensive Box Plus-Minus, assist percentage, and total and per game points produced, points, assists, and 3-pointers. She has the third-highest usage in the NCAA at 40.5 percent and has a true shooting percentage of 62.3 percent, well above the 50.2 percent Big Ten average.
Who is Caitlin Clark's NBA comp?
To find her NBA comp, we need to identify a point guard who shoulders a massive offensive burden and is a high-volume 3-point shooter but maintains excellent efficiency. Listed at 6-foot-0, Clark is a large point guard, but not quite the size of a WNBA wing.
Offensively, the NBA player who mirrors Clark’s production most is Luka Doncic. With Joel Embiid soon to fall off leader boards due to injury, Doncic is on pace to finish the season second in Offensive Box Plus-Minus, assist percentage, and usage. He leads the NBA in points per game and is third in assists, all while posting above-league-average shooting efficiency.
2023-24 Caitlin Clark and Luka Doncic comparison
However, Doncic takes slightly fewer threes as a percentage of his shots compared to Clark but gets to the line a few times more. Also, due to his positional size advantage, he’s listed at 6-foot-7, his rebounding numbers are a bit better. Another candidate is Tyrese Haliburton. His combination of 3-point volume, free throw generation, assist percentage and positional size also align relatively closely with Clark’s, but his usage only checks in at 25.3 percent due to a far less robust shot volume.
Unsurprisingly, there is no clear-cut NBA doppelganger of Caitlin Clark. The NBA is a professional league and the gap between stars and an average player is far smaller than it is in the college game. That being said, Clark’s game should translate well to the professional level. Her offensive skill set is well rounded and even if some of her on-ball creation talents don’t translate quite as well to the professional game, her lethal volume 3-point shooting will still be able to bend defenses.
The best NBA comp for Caitlin Clark is Luka Doncic but with a little bit of Tyrese Haliburton thrown in for good measure. With the pair ranking third and fourth in Offensive Box Plus-Minus behind Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, there really isn’t any higher compliment a guard can be paid. Clark is a star because her game demands it. If you’ve largely missed out on her college career, there’s still time to catch its final chapter.