Caitlin Clark’s Stardom Threatens Victor Wembanyama, Claim NBA Veterans as Debate Ensues on Gilbert Arenas’ Show

New names are coming up in the basketball world who have shown promise to carry the sport into the future. Caitlin Clark and Victor Wembanyama are the two biggest names in that regard. While the Frenchman is already showing signs of greatness in the NBA, Clark is opening doors to new opportunities for women’s basketball. But why are the two being compared? In the latest live segment of The Gils Arenas’ show, the crew sparked a debate among themselves as well as fans on the two young basketball stars. While many agreed that a comparison between the two doesn’t fly, it is hard to stop the netizens once they start going at it.

During the conversation, Lexie Brown, who previously chose Paige Bueckers as the better overall and complete player, chose Clark over Wembanyama in terms of having a bigger impact in their rookie seasons. Brown isn’t wrong about her opinion of Clark being the needle that has the potential to change women’s basketball. “Caitlin, a bigger impact. We are talking about general impact or business-wise, Caitlin Clark,” Brown said.

The 22-year-old has amassed every accolade she could in her college career. She smashed the 54-year-old all-time scoring record set by the late Pete Maravich in her 93-83 win over Ohio State. Impressive, right? But right now she is just gearing up for her rookie season in the pro league. Some of the other co-hosts present on the show disagreed with Brown. Rashad McCants and Gilbert Arenas also seemed to disagree with her. Amidst the chatter, Kenyon Martin presented the most interesting opinion.

Kenyon Martin talks about Caitlin Clark’s impact 

Speaking of Clark’s game, the 46-year-old shared how rivalry is playing a big part. “Half the population that wants to see her fail, the other half want to see her succeed so people going to tune in just to watch (Clark’s game),” Martin said. Isn’t that one of the parts of sports entertainment? This explains the impact Clark has on the fans. Considering the viewership ratings, Clark does have an advantage. Clark’s stunning performance at the Iowa vs. Ohio State game surpassed one of Wembanyama’s records. 

The Instagram post by Just Women’s Sports shared, “Impressive 3.4 million viewers on Fox for Iowa-Ohio State on Sunday afternoon. Beyond women’s college hoops superlatives, Caitlin Clark’s record-setting game was- Higher than both TNT NBA Opening Night games this season and higher than Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut on ESPN.”

Well, even if with that, it’s hard to argue on who among Clark and Wembanyama will have a bigger impact over the years. While the San Antonio Spurs star has proved himself in the NBA, we have yet to witness Clark’s performance in the pro leagues. While there will never be a proper answer to this debate, one thing is for certain. Wembanyama and Clark will define their generation of basketball.