{"id":892834,"date":"2026-09-12T09:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892834\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:18:12","slug":"former-wnba-champion-lauren-jackson-makes-bold-caitlin-clark-and-fever-admission-ahead-of-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892834\/","title":{"rendered":"Former WNBA champion Lauren Jackson makes bold Caitlin Clark and Fever admission ahead of playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Former WNBA champion Lauren Jackson has made a bold admission about Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever ahead of the playoffs, backing them to go all the way this season.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Sue Bird\u2019s Bird\u2019s Eye View podcast, Jackson was asked who she wanted to see win the WNBA championship and did not hesitate with her answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually want Indiana to win, believe it or not,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

Jackson then explained why she has become such a big supporter of the Fever, highlighting both Clark and Kelsey Mitchell while also mentioning Indiana assistant coach Tully Bevilaqua.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this before: I love watching Caitlin Clark. I love the way that she plays. When she gets hot, she is just, it\u2019s epically awesome to watch. I love Kelsey Mitchell. I love the way that she plays. And so, yeah, and [assistant coach] Tully [Bevilaqua]\u2019s an assistant coach there, so of course I\u2019m like, Oh, Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IndianaPhoto by Tara Walton\/Getty ImagesHow important is Caitlin Clark?<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s comments come after an impressive stretch from Indiana before the league paused for the FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Fever had won seven of their previous nine games, with Clark and Mitchell producing some of their best basketball of the season. Clark was averaging 25.4 points and 9.4 assists during that run, while Mitchell was putting up 28.1 points per game and shooting 50.8 per cent from three.<\/p>\n

Clark had also produced 37 points and 10 assists against the Chicago Sky before following that with 34 points and 12 assists against Connecticut. Mitchell scored 30 against Chicago before matching Clark\u2019s 34-point haul against the Sun.<\/p>\n

Sue Bird has previously praised Indiana\u2019s style, too. She highlighted the Fever\u2019s pace and singled out Clark, Mitchell and Aliyah Boston as players to watch.<\/p>\n

\"USAPhoto by Marco Steinbrenner\/DeFodi Images\/DeFodi via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The timing is notable given the attention surrounding Clark during Team USA\u2019s World Cup campaign. She has remained on the bench despite producing 8.5 points and seven assists per game, while head coach Kara Lawson has continued with her veteran starting five.<\/p>\n

Former Indiana coach Dan Dakich dismissed the debate over Clark\u2019s role, saying, \u201cAs long as you win, who cares who you start? It don\u2019t matter to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana now has to turn its strong regular-season form into a deep playoff run, with Jackson clearly hoping Clark and the Fever can finish the job.<\/p>\n

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\"\"\/ Add to Preferred Sources <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Former WNBA champion Lauren Jackson has made a bold admission about Caitlin Clark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,735,48,2803,133572,82,630],"class_list":["post-892834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-indiana-fever","tag-lauren-jackson","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}