Caitlin Clark has always made waves in the basketball world since she arrived at Iowa Women’s Basketball in 2020. Upon arrival, Clark slowly took the women’s basketball world by storm, becoming the NCAA all-time leading scorer.
However, Clark has now decided to make waves in the NBA world as well. She recently shared that her favorite player is LeBron James and answered one of the most common questions in basketball fandom: LeBron or Jordan?
Caitlin Clark Says that LeBron James Is Her Greatest of All Time
During an interview, Clark was asked about her chance to meet LeBron James before the Indiana Fever’s season opener against the Chicago Sky on Saturday. Clark said that while she “doesn’t get too starstruck from people,” her meeting with James was an exception, despite prior knowledge that she would meet with him before the game.
Caitlin Clark on LeBron —
“That’s one of my idols. LeBron is the GOAT to me…He’s my favorite player of all time.” ✊
(via @KBowen1070, h/t @MaskedInLA)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral)
Clark continued by saying that James is “one of her idols” and that “he is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) to her.” Essentially, by saying James is her GOAT, it would mean that Clark has James above NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan for the greatest basketball player of all time. While the James vs. Jordan GOAT debate is usually a heavily debated one, Clark has made her pick known to the world.
Clark Didn’t Think LeBron James’ Shoutout Was Real
Caitlin Clark met one of her idols before her season opener last Saturday. The meeting led to a post from LeBron James on Instagram that said, “Good luck and DO YOU per usual this season!!! @caitlinclark22.” The post quickly went viral and was a main talking point of the basketball community over the weekend.
Despite being in the picture posted, Clark herself didn’t know whether the post itself was real or not, as she said, “a lot of people had sent it to me after the game, and I was like ‘oh my gosh.’ I thought it was kind of fake at first… You never know in today’s world, I guess. I didn’t know I was like ‘wait, is this actually LeBron James?”
Clark also mentioned how James is her favourite player of all time and how much it meant to her to meet her NBA GOAT. Clark went on to channel her inner James in her season opener against the Sky as she stuffed the stat sheet. Clark finished with a triple-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists to lead the Fever to a 93-58 win to start the 2025 WNBA season off on the right foot.