NBA Hall of Fame Player Reveals True Feelings on Caitlin Clark After Battle With Angel Reese

It is difficult not to be impressed by Caitlin Clark , even when you're an NBA Hall-of-Fame player with four championship rings to your credit.

Shaquille O'Neal was recently in attendance for a game between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky , which is home to fellow rookie phenom Angel Reese . He came away from the experience on August 30 blown away by both women, but Clark in particular.

“When I see stuff on TV I’m like, 'OK, I’d like to see it in person.' Well, I saw it in person,” O’Neal said of Clark's game, per USA Today Sports . “From a basketball standpoint, she makes all the right plays, gets everybody involved and she has that Steph Curry range.”

O'Neal went on to refer to Clark as "the real deal."

He also addressed comments from his "Inside the NBA" on TNT co-host and fellow former NBA player Charles Barkley about women around the WNBA being jealous of Clark and acting pettily because of it.

Sure there’s a lot of people who are professionally jealous. I am. I’m professionally jealous of a lot of people. I’m professionally jealous of Steph [Curry], he makes $60 million. But hey, that’s life.

You gotta also understand that we’re not just going to give it to you because everybody else is giving it to you. You still gotta earn it. Chuck had to go through that, I had to go through that, so I understand what everybody’s doing.

Yeah you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet. Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi , we still got A'ja Wilson . If you’re gonna give [Clark] props make sure our girls that are dominating in this league get the same props.

Clark has been the odds-on favorite to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award for awhile now, which a season-ending wrist injury to Reese on September 6 has all but sealed up for her.

And while the biggest discussions around the league involving Clark and her talent have been in the context of comparisons to Reese, the Fever point guard has shown herself to be one of the best players in the entire WNBA since the women resumed play following gold-medal success at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.