Dan Patrick believes Paige Bueckers will appeal to WNBA fans more than Caitlin Clark

Famed pundit Dan Patrick believes Paige Bueckers’ style of play appeals more to WNBA fans than Caitlin Clark, with casual fans more likely to latch onto the Indiana Fever star

Dan Patrick believes Paige Bueckers appeals to WNBA fans more than Caitlin Clark, in light of the Dallas Wings star’s historic outing against the Los Angeles Sparks.

On Wednesday night, Bueckers exploded for a career-high 44 points en route to becoming the first player in league history to score 40 or more points on 80 percent shooting (17-of-21) from the field. The Wings star also tied Cynthia Cooper-Dyke for the record for most points scored by a rookie in a single game.In a recent taping of the Dan Patrick Show, the famed pundit explained how Bueckers’ ability to score in a variety of ways helps her appeal to WNBA fans more than Clark. Specifically, Patrick noted that Bueckers’ style of play resonates more with league fans while Clark’s style draws in casual fans.

“Yeah, and that’s the difference, is that Paige will appeal to WNBA fans,” Patrick said. “Caitlin Clark appeals to the casual fan, or somebody who’s not even a casual fan, but will become a casual fan, or maybe even more than that with Caitlin Clark. But she hasn’t been able to play, but this could be the true rivalry that the WNBA could use.”

Earlier in the same segment, Patrick stated that Bueckers “was Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark” because the Wings star appeared to be transcendent before knee injuries slowed her ascent to greatness. What’s more, the pundit believes that because of how the 23-year-old gets her points in an efficient and non-flashy way, she was in the category with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Durant.

“Now, it’s not sexy, exciting, and it’s not logo threes, but she is so good at understanding where to attack,” he added. “I loved watching her, but she made it look effortless, putting up 44. This was supposed to be the rivalry. This was supposed to be Caitlin Clark versus Paige Beckers, and hopefully it will be.

Bueckers’ deliberate style of play also was lauded by Chris Koclanes, Dallas’ head coach. Speaking to reporters after the Wings’ 81-80 loss to the Sparks, Koclanes raved about his star guard and just how easy the game appeared to come to her, after proclaiming that Bueckers was the Rookie of the Year.

“After you just watched that performance, she lets the game come to her and she takes what the defense is giving her,” he said when asked by Mirror U.S. Sports to speak on Bueckers’ outing. “Early on, bringing the ball up or whether she’s off the ball, just had a lot of success attacking down low. And then when she touches the paint, she just plays at her own pace, right? You can’t speed her up.

“Everyone’s flying by and she just, she doesn’t get sped up. That’s really impressive for a rookie in this league to be able to maintain her own speed and tempo. And I think that helps her to be able to read the defense.”

Koclanes also applauded Bueckers’ ability to make the right play. “So, to have somebody like that as the future of this organization, I’m just extremely lucky to have a kind of servant leader that Paige is,” he concluded.

What’s more, Sparks star Azura Stevens noticed how the league’s stars have embraced Bueckers despite being a rookie, speaking exclusively to Mirror U.S. Sports before the win.

“She seems very approachable, down to Earth, and obviously, when you’re a player that has a talent like that, you’re going to be able to just talk and chop it up with other players in the league who have been doing well for a while,” Stevens said.

“I think it just speaks to her personality. She seems really humble. You can see that from her UConn days. She’s really extremely humble, always putting the team first, and I think that speaks to a lot of people.”