Nick Young tells WNBA to stop treating Caitlin Clark like Lonzo Ball if it wants better ratings

Though the 2024 NBA Playoffs are in full swing, one of the hottest stories in the basketball world as of late has been that of WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark.

Clark was a star in the collegiate ranks at the University of Iowa, and she capped off an incredible collegiate career with a deep run in the 2024 women’s NCAA tournament. She’s now the young star of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

Following Clark’s debut with the team, former Los Angeles Lakers player Nick Young had some advice for the WNBA if it wants to see its ratings improve.

He argued that if the league wants to see real improvement, it should not treat Clark like former Lakers star rookie Lonzo Ball. It seems as though Young feels that the criticism Ball received early on in his career was not fair. Now, it appears that he’s starting to see the same kind of criticism hurled at Clark.

The Fever had a tough go of it in their first regular season game of the year, losing 92-71 to the Connecticut Sun. Clark, however, showed that her scoring ability can be expected to translate to the pro ranks. She notched a team-high 20 points in the game, adding three assists and two steals. She did have 10 turnovers, though. That’s surely something that she’s going to look to improve upon in her next outing.

As for former Lakers guard Ball, his NBA career has been put on pause due to injury in recent years. He played two seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans after being a key piece in the trade that brought Anthony Davis to L.A.

He then joined the Chicago Bulls prior to the 2021-22 season. While his career with the Bulls got off to a great start, it was stopped in its tracks after Ball had logged just 35 games with the team.

He missed the entire 2022-23 season with a knee injury and went on to miss the entirety of the 2023-24 season as well.

At the moment, there has been buzz surrounding a possible return for Ball in the 2024-25 season. Unfortunately, many fans are likely taking a wait-and-see approach on this matter.