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Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams weighed in on the debate about Indiana Fever guard Cailtin Clark and whether or not she’s the greatest rookie in WNBA history.
Williams believes that the legendary Candace Parker is the greatest rookie ever, but he did give Clark some major love on social media as well.
Clark won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in the 2024 season, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from the field.
The Fever earned the No. 6 seed in Clark’s first season, making the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season (when they lost in the first round). Indiana finished with a 20-20 record in the 2024 season, the first time it was at least .500 in the last eight seasons.
Despite Clark’s amazing achievements as a rookie, it’s hard to say that she was better than Parker.
After being taken with the No. 1 overall pick in 2008, Parker went on to win the Rookie of the Year and the WNBA MVP in her first season.
During that season, Parker averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. She finished fourth in the WNBA in the Defensive Player of the Year voting as well, highlighting how dominant she was as a rookie on both ends of the floor.
Parker is one of the greatest players in WNBA history, as she went on to win two league MVPs while making seven All-Star teams. A three-time champion during her career, Parker was dominant even in her later years, winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award in the 2020 season.
Clark has certainly made a name for herself in the WNBA, but she’ll need to put together a long and successful career to reach Parker’s level and her entire body of work in the pros.
It’s cool to see Williams show some respect to Parker for all that she accomplished in her WNBA career.
For WNBA fans, it’s hard not to look forward to the 2025 season to see how much Clark can improve on her impressive rookie campaign.
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