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Over the past year, Caitlin Clark has brought a plethora of new fans to the WNBA following her historic rookie season. As more highly-skilled players continue to come down the pike, one analyst made a bold claim regarding the league’s future.
When it comes to possible rivals for Clark at the pro level, JuJu Watkins is one of the first names mentioned. Still years away from the WNBA, the USC star continues to turn heads.
Watkins is fresh off arguably her most dominant game in college. In an upset win over UCLA Thursday, she erupted for 38 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and eight blocks.
Following this outing, Jason Whitlock took to Instagram to rant about the future of women’s basketball. He feels that Caitlin Clark and Watkins are going to lead a surge that will see the WNBA becoming more popular than the NBA.
“I keep saying that women’s basketball, the WNBA, it’s gonna be bigger than the NBA,” Whitlock said. “No different than how the U.S. women’s national soccer team is bigger than the men’s team.”
“We’re about to see the transformation of basketball.”
In the caption of his post, Whitlock also cited that the future rivalry between Clark and Watkins is going to spearhead women’s basketball becoming prominent.
WNBA talent evaluator views JuJu Watkins on same tier as Caitlin Clark
Before putting together one of the best rookie seasons in WNBA history, Caitlin Clark shattered numerous records during her time at Iowa. As JuJu Watkins starts to blaze her own path, some feel she could be on a similar trajectory.
While speaking to a WNBA talent evaluator, Alexa Philippou asked about the two highly skilled guards. Similar to Clark, they believe Watkins is talented enough to carry a franchise on her own.
“You could be looking at a multiple MVP winner,” one WNBA talent evaluator told ESPN. “She’s going to carry a franchise. Besides Caitlin, she’s definitely the next most exciting prospect. … That’s the one you’re waiting for.”
When it’s all said and done, Watkins could end up going down as one of women’s college basketball’s greatest scorers alongside Caitlin Clark. At her current pace, Watkins will be within striking distance of her scoring record. After averaging 27.1 points as a freshman, she is averaging 24.5 points towards the end of her sophomore campaign.
With her all-around skill set, Watkins has all the makings of a future No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft. Seeing that they’re already being debated now, the noise is only going to get louder when she does make the jump to the pros. That said, between this duo and many other talented players, the WNBA could be in the beginning of a golden age for the league.
Edited by Kevin McCormick
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