LeBron James praise should shut down any and all Caitlin Clark doubters

The Caitlin Clark discourse may not have jumped the shark yet, but it's on water skis, ripping across open water, knees bent with fire in its belly.

Her WNBA career is just over a week old and she has already been labeled a huge disappointment ... despite becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to begin their career averaging at least 17.0 points, 5.5 assists and 3.0 made 3-pointers per game. The Fever are 0-4 and she's struggled with turnovers but she's also putting up big numbers and notably improving game-to-game. She's drawing unprecedented attention to the game, both good (opponents are having to move to larger arenas to accommodate ticket demand) and bad (her teammates have had to delete social media accounts to avoid abuse).

That all that would be a lot for anyone to handle, but certainly for a 22-year-old who was still just a college student two months ago. Luckily, she's getting words of support from some of the biggest athletes in the world, including LeBron James.

LeBron James wants Caitlin Clark to keep her head up and focus on basketball

In a recent episode of his Mind the Game podcast with J.J. Redick, LeBron talked about the positive impact she's having, totally separate from points and assists, wins and losses.

"The one thing that I love that she's bringing to her sport? More people want to watch. More people want to tune in. Don't get it twisted, don't get it f***ed up — Caitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things is gonna happen for the WNBA."

James went on to add:

"For her, individually, I don't think she should get involved on nothing that's being said. Just go have fun, enjoy. But I'm rooting for Caitlin because I've been in that seat before. I've walked that road before. I hope she kills. I hope Aliyah Boston does amazing. I hope they do great."

There might not be another athlete in the world with a better understanding of what Clark is going through right now — the attention, the expectations, the love and hate that follows every action made on and off the court. It has to be gratifying to hear that, in his mind, she's going about things the right way, focusing on what she can control and having fun playing the game she loves.

I'm not sure if LeBron would say that it even gets easier, but it won't always feel like it does now. There will always be hate and always be love, but Clark is going to keep hitting shots, the Fever are going to start winning games and the stands are going to keep filling up. At some point, this will just be the new normal for everyone.