Angel Reese had a succinct answer for Shaquille O’Neal when asked why WNBA rival Caitlin Clark is so popular.

“She can shoot threes from the logo,” Reese told the NBA icon, paying homage to the Indiana Fever superstar’s remarkable skill set. Clark, Reese and their counterparts in the 2024 rookie class have had a transformative impact on the popularity of the WNBA, with Clark the biggest star of them all.

The former Iowa standout claimed the Rookie of the Year accolade after leading the Fever to a 20-20 record and a place in the playoffs – being eliminated in the first round by the Connecticut Sun in the first round.

Clark set a long list of WNBA records in her rookie season, including the most points by a point guard in a single season and the most points by a rookie. She was also the first rookie since 2008 to earn All-WNBA honors.

The 22-year-old concluded the regular season with averages of 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds – but it is her distance shooting that Reese believes has made Clark a mainstream superstar.

Chicago Sky star Reese was hosting O’Neal on her “Unapologetically Angel” podcast, and the four-time NBA champion admits his perception of Clark changed dramatically over the course of her rookie season. He compared the Fever sensation to Golden State Warriors talisman Steph Curry.

Clark has become a mainstream star and powered a surge in growth for the WNBA

Clark has become a mainstream star and powered a surge in growth for the WNBA ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

“We never seen that before,” he said in response to Reese’s verdict. “That’s my point. Steph Curry, a little kid … like Steph Curry. You know why I love Steph Curry? Because I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen that before.

“I’ve seen it a little bit, but I’ve never seen a guy consistently come down and if you look at like if you saw Steph on the street. He ain’t got the LeBron muscles. He’s not six-foot-nine, he’s not six-foot-ten.

“He looks like a perfectly normal office guy, but he’s doing stuff that [I’ve] never seen before. She’s doing stuff, we [have] never seen before. Never seen nobody do that on a consistent basis.”

O’Neal admits he was once a Clark “hater” during her college days with the Hawkeyes, but his view changed after her epic performance against Reese’s LSU in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament earlier this year.

“There’s a lot of girls who have done it in spurts, but you know that game. I’m watching like ‘Damn’. And I was a hater because you know I’m down,” O’Neal said. “I was like ‘She is not going to hit that shot’.

“And bam. If I say 10 times you’re not going to hit the shot and you hit the shot, that means you’re the truth.”