It’s not every day that a player arrives with shades of one of the greatest stars the sport has ever seen. But when Caitlin Clark entered the WNBA in 2024, her deep shooting range, willingness to shoot from anywhere, and ability to draw crowds led to comparisons with Stephen Curry. In her seasons since, she has validated the hype, shattering the WNBA single-season assist record and the rookie three-point record while driving historic, league-wide sellouts. But now, the Curry-Clark comparisons have taken an interesting turn, with one analyst arguing that another player is actually a more fitting match for the Indiana Fever star.

ESPN analyst Daniel Dennis Jr. has noted that four-time NBA All-Star Trae Young is more suited to the conversation. 

“Caitlin Clark came into the league,” Dennis said via ESPN Radio. “This is a new Steph Curry, right? There’s this three-point shooter from however far, assists, and all those things. And the observation I made is that there was a wide gulf between Trae Young and Steph Curry. Not that Young is bad. But there’s just a difference. And Caitlin Clark to me looks more like Young than Steph Curry.”

From a broader perspective, there are two major valid sides of Clark’s comparisons with Curry. CC is one of the very few WNBA players who can come close to Curry’s three-point shooting and playmaking. It’s common knowledge among basketball romantics and doesn’t need a separate assessment. Meanwhile, some downsides to Clark’s game blemish this comparison.

First of all, defense, which has been CC’s kryptonite throughout her WNBA stint. To be fair, Curry isn’t an out-of-the-world defender as well. But in terms of comparisons, Curry’s tenacity to disrupt offenses outweighs Clark’s. Secondly, the off-the-ball movement.

It’s part of the game Clark is still developing, and, to be fair, it’s a work in progress. Curry, meanwhile, already thrives on this part of the game, using his gravity to extend the court and pull defenders to create spaces. Curry leads the NBA in off-ball movement, averaging roughly 2.4 to 2.6 miles traveled per game.

David Dennis Jr. doubled down on some of these aspects of the game to push back against comparisons with Curry, emphasizing that Clark is closer to Young. Now, that has its own back story too. When Trae Young entered the NBA in 2018, he became one of the hottest prospects, following a stellar collegiate season at Oklahoma.

Like Clark, Young was also compared to Curry by fans for his traits. For instance, Young lacks a tall frame (6’2″) but excels at playmaking and scoring from beyond the arc. But again, the difference between the Warriors legend and Young became clearly visible as time passed.

Defensive output and off-the-ball movement became Young’s nemesis as well, much like Clark’s. Once seen as the franchise cornerstone of the Atlanta Hawks, Young was let go earlier this year because of his limitations as a player and his inability to impact the game beyond scoring. And for Dennis, that’s where Clark currently stands. He even went so far as to point to her turnover issues.

“I mean, the defense is abysmal. The turnovers are bad. She’s going to accumulate stats, and she’s going to make playoff runs. You’re gonna lead the league in scoring and assists. But there is a little while to go before it’s like actual winning basketball. I think that’s a fair assessment of somebody in their third year in her elite career,” he said. 

Turnovers are a recurring concern for Clark on the court. For context, she averages over five turnovers per game throughout her career, as per ESPN, which is exceedingly high even for the team’s primary ball handler. Meanwhile, across his long and decorated career, Curry is averaging just over three turnovers per game.

That said, it’s important to note that Clark is still in the third year of her pro career. The talent is already there, and the ceiling is huge. She didn’t give off Trae Young vibes when she entered the league, and there was something about her game that reminded fans of one of the greatest draws in basketball history. She scored 1,234 points during the 2023-24 season at Iowa, setting the all-time NCAA Division I single-season scoring record. She also made 201 three-pointers, more than any player in NCAA Division I history, men’s or women’s, while averaging 31.6 points, 8.9 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game. 

Hence, Mark Zinno opined that talent-wise, she’s ahead of Young. “I think talent-wise Caitlin Clark is much closer to Steph Curry than to Trae Young,” Zinno said.

Clark has ample time to address those shortcomings and develop into a formidable all-around threat like Curry. On the other hand, the conversation about her lack of winning plays, as Dennis put it, doesn’t sit well with Clark either. This season, she has repeatedly proved her mettle by contributing to her team’s success.

Caitlin Clark Is Having an MVP-caliber 2026 Season

Persistent turnovers and defensive inconsistencies don’t change the fact that Caitlin Clark is still one of the most feared on-the-ball players. Her numbers this season for the Indiana Fever mirror that perfectly as well. To be specific, CC is currently having her career season in scoring, where she’s averaging 21.3 points.

Furthermore, Clark is also dishing out 8.2 assists per game. The Fever point guard is leading the team in both these metrics. Notably, she is the only player in the league to rank in the top five in both metrics, as per WNBA.com. These add even more weight to Clark’s array of talents that she can employ on the court to make her team win a basketball game.

These are absolutely MVP-worthy numbers, and as per Sports Illustrated, CC is definitely in contention for the award this season, along with players like A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.

Furthermore, talking about winning plays? Remember the game against the Washington Mystics when Clark scored a three-pointer game-winner to win the game for Indiana. Notably, in the last game as well, against the Phoenix Mercury, Clark was responsible for more than 40% of her team’s points with 24 points and 9 assists.

Caitlin Clark might not be as good as Steph Curry. And it’s quite understandable that she has a long way to go to reach that elite status. But for her team, she is their offensive anchor, exponentially fueling their production.

When she is in full flow for the Fever, the team usually does well. Currently, they sit sixth in the WNBA (with a 10-7 record) and have just one goal in mind: to go all the way. For Clark, that likely matters more than any comparisons to Curry.