WNBA Legend Sue Bird Doesn’t Hold Back Thoughts On Caitlin Clark

THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW — Episode 7I118 — Pictured: Sue Bird — (Photo by: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

NBC/Getty Images

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will be back on the court this afternoon for another showdown against the New York Liberty.

The two teams played earlier this week and the result was a 102-66 blowout victory for the Liberty. It’s been a rough start to her rookie season so far as Clark has struggled with turnovers and fouls.

Fans expecting to see her dominate in the WNBA the way she did in college are somewhat surprised by her performance thus far, but WNBA legend Sue Bird believes good things are coming – they’ll just take some time first.

“She has arguably the most pressure that any women’s player has ever had coming into the WNBA,” Bird said. “Sometimes it feels like the weight of the WNBA is on her shoulders, that is both a compliment and warranted in a lot of ways, but also a little bit unfair to put so much on her. And then not to play up to her abilities in this early part would be frustrating.”

Bird knows Clark is a special player and will learn how to compete with the best in the world.

“The thing is, you watch the games and she’s not really even getting that many great looks. Again, some of that is the other team’s defense, so credit there, she’s played two of the top defensive teams in the league, but some of that is figuring it out. It takes time too, like we see it in every sport. A lot of times you have these teams put together and you want to see it click right away, but it always takes time.”

Clark and the Fever tip off this afternoon against the Liberty at 1:00 p.m. ET.