Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark was given advice from Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson during his appearance on the late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” as he talked about the WNBA at large. Kimmel brought up the topic since the league has seen a boost in viewership because of the rookie class with Clark at the forefront along with Angel Reese.
However, there has been a lot of attention on Clark as she tries to adapt to the professional league where the physicality is much different compared to college basketball. In relation to that, Johnson would say that Clark should call former Boston Celtics legend and current consultant for the Indiana Pacers Larry Bird for advice since he went though the same as Clark did coming out of college.
“Let me give Caitlin some advice. Call Larry Bird, ask him for advice,” Johnson said. “Indiana, he’s already there, and I think he can give her great advice on how to handle this situation because he went through it himself. So it would be a perfect situation. He already lives there, grew up in Indiana. I think it would be great.”
Magic Johnson says the Clark-Reese rivalry resembles himself and Bird
Along with Bird, Johnson was a huge figure of the NBA when the two came out of college in 1978 and 1979 respectively and took the league by storm as the two would form a rivalry. Fast forward to the present, Johnson absolutely sees the comparisons people make when they compare the two old rivals to Clark and Chicago Sky star Angel Reese.
“They are,” Johnson said when the comparisons were brought up. “Veterans are going to test you. And if they feel that you got more money or more publicity, they're upset about that. We have to understand that both Caitlin, Angel, and (Cameron) Brink, who plays for my Sparks, they made the WNBA better.”
Fever's Clark is ‘not the best at this time' per Magic Johnson
Johnson and Bird started their rivalry when they faced each other in the college basketball national championship when the former got the upper hand as Michigan State beat Indiana State in 1979. Clark and Reese met twice in the last two national tournaments where Reese and LSU won the first in the national championship as it was the other way around the season after in the Elite Eight.
“They're going to be tested by these incredible women who have been in the league for a long time,” Johnson said. “Caitlin is the most popular WNBA player, but she's not the best at this time. Just like Larry and I were not the best when we entered the league. We became the best later on.”
There is no doubt that the rivalry between Clark and Reese is going to continue to grow as they do in the WNBA. In the short term however, Clark is still adapting to the league as she is averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game while the Fever are 3-9 on the season with their next game Monday night against the Connecticut Sun.
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