{"id":790491,"date":"2026-07-10T02:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/790491\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:48:20","slug":"paige-bueckers-is-everything-we-expected-caitlin-clark-to-be-ex-nfl-wide-reciever-boldly-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/790491\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige Bueckers is &#8216;everything we expected Caitlin Clark to be,&#8217; ex-NFL wide reciever boldly claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Caitlin Clark continues to be at the center of everyone\u2019s attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During an appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FreddieandHD\/status\/2074984372273610757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2074984372273610757%7Ctwgr%5Ea3c70772415b840a166931da9ba1c6ac5cb60826%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fawfulannouncing.com%2Fwnba%2Fespn-radio-harry-douglas-paige-bueckers-everything-expected-caitlin-clark-be.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN Radio<\/a> on Wednesday, former NFL wide receiver Harry Douglas claimed that \u201ceverything we expected Caitlin Clark to be, Paige Bueckers has been in the WNBA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Douglas defended his comments by pointing to how important Bueckers is to the Dallas Wings.<\/p>\n<p>Harry Douglas talks about Caitlin Clark on ESPN Radio.  @FreddieandHD\/X<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou look at the Dallas Wings, they had the worst record a season ago in the WNBA. They had the number one overall pick, and they drafted Azzi Fudd,\u201d Douglas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the way Paige Bueckers is playing, (Arike) Ogunbowale, Fudd, and the rest of the Dallas Wings players have been connecting on all cylinders,\u201d he added. \u201cThey have the fourth-best record in the WNBA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so funny to me how two seasons ago, you were the worst team in the league. You add one player, and the confidence and the morale around the team is different for 2026, and now they have the fourth-best record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bueckers, who was selected with the No. 1 pick in 2025, has already put up an impressive professional career so far, taking home Rookie of the Year honors, along with being named to the All-WNBA second team last season.<\/p>\n<p>Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates a three-point field goal. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>This season, Bueckers, 24, is averaging 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists through 21 games played.<\/p>\n<p>While Bueckers has led her team quietly during her second WNBA season, Clark has been at the center of controversy once again.<\/p>\n<p>The latest incident involving Clark stems from an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/25\/sports\/caitlin-clark-takes-fist-to-the-throat-as-fever-coach-fumes-over-ridiculous-treatment\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">altercation against the Mercury<\/a> where Alyssa Thomas\u2019 fist hit her in the neck on a loose ball, and then stepped over the Fever guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Paige Bueckers #5 of the Dallas Wings dribbles the ball during the game against the New York Liberty. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Fever head coach Stephanie White called the no-call \u201cegregious\u201d and \u201cabsolutely unacceptable\u201d after the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This started a debate over how Clark should be treated, with celebrities such as Dave Portnoy and Emmanuel Acho to taking sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark continues to be at the center of everyone\u2019s attention.\u00a0 During an appearance on ESPN Radio on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,6554,794,10731,593,4017,85,5941],"class_list":["post-790491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-espn","tag-indiana-fever","tag-nfl","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}