The retired U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team player Megan Rapinoe is gushing over the WNBA No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark, saying that she “can’t wait” to see her play for the Indiana Fever in the upcoming season.
Rapinoe Sounds Off On Clark
While appearing at the Business of Women’s Sports Summit in New York on Tuesday, Rapinoe, 38, was quick to gush over Clark, 22.
“You gotta capture the moment also, and my God, she has,” Rapinoe said, according to CBS Sports. “I can’t wait. I’m going to the game when they play in Seattle and will be back here for the one in New York. I’m just as big a fan as anyone.”
Clark became so beloved during her time playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes that she was a major factor in bringing in record-breaking viewership numbers earlier this month during the Final Four and the National Championship game.
“It’s so much more than Caitlin, though,” Rapinoe continued. “[There’s] a huge storyline around Dawn Staley and her game. It doesn’t look like she’s slowing down. Incredible, undefeated season and the only reason it wasn’t the only thing talked about is because Caitlin was going absolutely bonkers.”
Unfortunately for Clark, her team lost to Staley’s undefeated South Carolina squad 87-75 in the NCAA title game. Just one week later, however, Clark got some good news when she was selected No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft by Indiana Fever. Rapinoe believes that this is only the beginning for Clark, and that she will end up going down in history alongside previous boundary-breaking women’s basketball players.
“Caitlin is standing on the shoulders of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore and the Dawn Staleys and Lisa Leslies — everybody,” she stated, according to People Magazine.
Related: Iowa NFL Draft Prospect Cooper DeJean Says He Can Beat Caitlin Clark In One-On-One Hoops
Clark Praises WNBA
Rapinoe also had words of praise for the WNBNA in general, saying, “I think particularly in the last five or six years, really since the bubble season, the work that the W did in solidifying who women’s basketball is — it’s very much black women, it’s very much gay women, it’s a very inclusive and open space.”
Rapinoe compared Clark’s situation to her own with the USWNT. She credited soccer legends Michelle Akers and Mia Hamm with laying the foundation for her and Alex Morgan to bring women’s soccer to a whole new level, according to her.
“I thought a lot about the national team because it’s such a solid foundation — a multigenerational, multi-decade foundation that our team was able to stand on and I was able to stand on, even for our fight for equal pay,” Rapinoe said. “That made it possible to really capture a moment and have it not just be a flash in the pan.”
Related: Caitlin Clark Celebrates One-Year Anniversary With Connor McCaffery In Absolute Sweetest Way
Clark Is ‘Super Excited’
The New York Post reported that the WNBA will be opening training camps on Sunday, and the season starts on May 14.
“I think I’m just super excited more than anything, this is something that your write down on a piece of paper and you dream of when you’re a young girl and to just be in this moment, enjoy it and soak it in, don’t let it pass you by and have a lot of fun,” Clark said after she was drafted, according to ABC 7.
Given how popular Clark is right now, it comes as no surprise that Rapinoe would try to link herself to her. It will certainly be interesting to see where Clark’s career goes when she starts playing for the WNBA next month!