“I have a great deal of respect for Caitlin Clark, because I know exactly what it means to be drafted, be the face of a franchise, and also get the scrutiny from a lot of people.” LeBron James recently once again praised the Fever Rookie for not only her performance but the way she conducts herself off the court. Despite frequent compliments from King James, Sheryl Swoopes has most of the time left the 22-year-old stranded for praise. But another women’s basketball legend, who also coached Clark during the All-Star Game, gave her flowers.

“When she saw me, she was like ‘Oh man, finally someone who’s on my side,‘” Cheryl Miller continued with her relationship with Caitlin Clark. “I hugged her and say I’m proud of you. I go savor this, use this as a formula, but keep being you. No matter what, keep being you.” Miller also stated that previous legends also did the same for her, but she didn’t understand at the time. But now she does, and with the added pressure of social media, the weight on the shoulders of the rookies is immense.

No doubt, the pressure is immense, but Caitlin Clark still managed to score 769 points in her rookie season. Yet, Sheryl Swoopes left her out of her best scorers list. The WNBA legend stated A’ja Wilson for her record-breaking season this year. Interestingly, she had Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 767 points for the Fever and averaged 19.2 points right behind Clark during the regular season.

Despite those numbers from the Iowa native, Swoopes was not impressed. On the Gilbert Arenas show, last week she stated, “Those are hell of numbers… but to me, that’s not dominating.” Even though Caitlin Clark broke multiple records especially, the rookie scoring record and the overall assists record.

The good thing for the former Hawkeye has been the constant support of other legends. And the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has been a fan for a very long time.

Tracking LeBron James’ appreciation for Caitlin Clark

When she broke the NCAA scoring record, the 4x NBA champion celebrated on X. “CONGRATS @CaitlinClark22 on becoming the All-Time leading scorer!! 🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣. 🙏🏾🫡👑.” The appreciation continued during the rookie season as LeBron multiple times, clapped back at the haters.

After a dominating display against Sky and in the subsequent games against the Wings, the 39-year-old made sure to let everyone know about the Caitlin Clark effect. “CAITLIN CLARK!!!!! HI HATERS.” A few days later, when Clark scored her 2nd overall triple-double, and once again LeBron wrote, “Hi HATERS!!!!!! I love it.” 

Before the rookie season began for the 22-year-old, King James also shared a great piece of advice. Comparing the situation with Bronny James, he mentioned, “My advice to Caitlin, and my advice to anyone that comes in with this level of notoriety, out-of-this-world expectation, whatever the case may be, I just think just, be a horse, man.” This is what the Rookie of the Year managed to do, despite many critics like Sheryl Swoopes. But it is always good to find the support of the ones in the same shoes.