The Indiana Fever star is starting to outshine NBA players

Caitlin Clark with Indiana Fever

 

Caitlin Clark with Indiana FeverAP

NBA legend Reggie Miller has claimed that Caitlin Clark would be a more accurate three-point shooter than Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton after making her debut.

Clark, the number one overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, joined the likes in the folklore of Indiana basketball by representing the city’s professional basketball team.

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Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA points from deep

The 22-year-old made her first appearance for the Indiana Fever, the WNBA sister team of the Pacers, in a preseason game against the Dallas Wings. It may have ended in a 79-76 defeat for Clark‘s team, but her individual performance didn’t go unnoticed.

She scored 21 points in front of a sold-out crowd at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, with the rookie scoring five from 13 attempts beyond the arc.

That’s hardly surprising as she finished her college career at Iowa as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 3,951 points. In four years with the Hawkeyes, Clark averaged 28.4 points and 7.1 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 139 games.

That led Miller – an expert in long-range shooting back in the 1980s – to suggest the Fever star would be a more effective in a three-point shooting contest than Haliburton after being impressed with her performance.

“Right now, I would say this, Tyrese has been struggling with his three-point shots, I’ve been doing my homework, so I might go with Caitlin, I might go with Caitlin right now,” Miller said in an episode of The Dan Patrick Show.

Tyese Hailburton’s struggles laid bare

It has been a difficult time for Haliburton, who struggled in the NBA playoffs for the Pacers in the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In the 2023-24 season, the 24-year-old Haliburton went from 3-point distance in 36 per cent of his 69 games and averaged a return of 20.1 points.

However, in the first round against the Bucks, his numbers dipped to 29.6 per cent from three-point range and averaged 16.0 points. It got worse against the New York Knicks on Tuesday, as he scored just six points in 36 minutes of action.