WNBA legend doubts Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark will dominate professionally right away

WNBA great Sheryl Swoopes doesn’t believe Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are ready to dominate professional opponents as rookies, insisting league veterans will try to put them in their places

WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes claimed Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark have no chance of dominating professionally right away after they leave women’s college basketball. Reese and Clark are eligible to depart LSU and Iowa, respectively, following this season, though they haven’t yet committed to doing so.

Swoopes, a three-time WNBA MVP, is skeptical of the players replicating their dominance at the next level from the jump, instead predicting growing pains for the Tigers’ and Hawkeyes’ standouts.

“I think Angel will eventually be a good pro. I don’t think Angel will come into the league immediately and dominate the way people think she will,” Swoopes said on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast. “I say that for people who have never watched a WNBA game. It’s good. There’s talent. Like these women can play.

There are very few roster spots. Like it’s a real job. People [in the league] look at new players coming in, whether that’s college, players who’ve been overseas, and they look at that and say, ‘Oh, you’re trying to come take my job. Nah, it’s not going to be that easy.'”

Swoopes continued: “So will Caitlin Clark be a good pro? Absolutely. Will Caitlin Clark come into the WNBA and do what she’s doing right now [at Iowa] immediately? Absolutely not. Not gonna happen.”

Reese and Clark won’t be the first mega-hyped women’s basketball stars to carry immense expectations into the WNBA. The likes of A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu also held a heavy weight on their shoulders from the get-go after enjoying college success.

But after breaking NCAA viewership records and amassing huge social media followings, the youngsters may have an even greater target on their backs than anyone before them in the WNBA.

Last December, active WNBA player Chelsea Gray gave a slightly kinder assessment of Clark’s chances of faring well if she leaves Iowa to play in the 2024 WNBA season. Gray said Clark would struggle defensively but added that the guard’s deep-shooting abilities might translate instantly.

“I think there’s always a learning curve when you get to the league no matter how great you are in college,” Gray said on FanDuel TV. “[Defense] I feel like is the hardest part to adjust to. So that will be an adjustment for her. But she can flat-out shoot the rock.

You have to be up on the screen [guarding Clark], I think there’s going to be times when there’s players around her who are going to draw a lot of attention and there’s going to be more open shots for her in the league than there is right now. So it’ll be an interesting fit, and the players around her are also a deciding factor, but I think she’s going to continue to get better.”

Reese is an entirely different player than Clark, positionally and stylistically. Reese does her best work in the paint, and the Baltimore native is known as a ferocious offensive rebounder.

She possesses some of the best characteristics of an energetic player with a never-stopping motor, but she adds an offensive skill set that, if all goes according to plan, could elevate her to WNBA stardom.