Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu Issues Advice For Caitlin Clark

One a Duck, the other a Hawkeye. One proclaims (New York) Liberty, the other caught (Indiana) Fever.

Beyond that, Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark aren’t so different.

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The momentum of women’s basketball has been partly built by immaculate timing, as some of the game’s most fully-fledged talents have been there to propel it forward. Barclays Center is set to host two on May 18, as Sabrina Ionescu will welcome Liberty fans back to Brooklyn in style against Caitlin Clark and Fever.

That contest, staged in the potential midst of the Knicks-Pacers NBA playoff series, will also feature the talents of stars like Aliyah Boston, Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot, and Erica Wheeler. Most headlines, however, will belong to Ionescu and Clark, both of whom topped their respective WNBA Draft boards in 2020 and 2024.

It’s far from Ionescu’s responsibility to be a mentor to Clark, who put up 21 points in her unofficial WNBA debut in a Friday exhibtion, but the fifth-year pro offered her some professional advice from one supposed hardwood prophet to another.

Oct 1, 2023; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts with

“I would say just like give yourself grace in the process, and be confident in yourself and kind of just ride the wave of highs and lows,” Ionescu said as the Liberty engaged in media day activities in Brooklyn on Saturday. “I think you face so much adversity going into your rookie year. You leave your comfort zone, you leave your university with so much support, and you just go out and you’re a pro.”

“You’ve got to figure everything out on your own, you leave home, and there’s just there’s so many times that you can kind of ride this roller coaster of ups and downs. The rookie season is all about just kind of learning. Everything else will figure itself out.”

Ionescu came to the Liberty with a fair amount of hype following her out of the University of Oregon. She was a protege of the late Kobe Bryant, likely had to pay extra shipping if she had her massive trophy case sent east, and still stands as major college basketball’s all-time triple-doubles leader (26).

Clark (17) couldn’t catch her in that department but set a similar mark in scoring while drawing a massive following of her own. With all eyes watching her collegiate finales in Iowa … one spoiled by Boston’s successors at South Carolina in the national championship game … the WNBA is next in line to experience the supposed “Caitlin Clark effect.”

May 3, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) controls the ball as Dallas

Clark was hardly the only one carrying the women’s basketball torch, as premier picks and champion like Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, each on her way to Chicago, likewise did some heavy lifting. Ionescu also challenged the idea of an offseason, partaking in Team USA Olympic prep camp in Brooklyn before facing fellow three-point royalty Stephen Curry in a long-distance shootout at the NBA All-Star festivities in February.

“(Momentum) is going to be rolling from the start of the season,” Ionescu said of the current women’s basketball landscape. “I just believe that the energy, the excitement, and also just the level that this game has continued to rise to will get higher. I think the buzz around new players, teams, and rivalries, it’s going to just continue to push this game forward.

“I know like we’re expecting a crazy amount of fans for our first home game and throughout the entire season. So I don’t think that there’s going to be any lull in that category of excitement in the W this year.”