Brandon Jackson

There has been so much talk about who is going to be the face of the NBA, who’s going to be face of American basketball, who is the best young American basketball player.

Anthony Edwards has been the one dominating these types of discussions, because his game is high-flying and exciting, he’s a very charismatic guy, and he has an edge on the court that we love to see from our superstars. The only issue is that while Edwards has definitely entrenched himself as a superstar in the NBA, there are a few players that have objectively proved to be better than him. And he has said on multiple occasions that he does not want that title, that we keep trying to give to him.

Maybe that will change, but that is the case for now.

But I am here suggesting that to end all of these pointless conversation about who will be the face of American basketball, we need a clear-cut answer to the question. And we do have that answer.

It’s Caitlin Clark. And it’s been Caitlin Clark all along.

I know that this statement may make a lot of people upset, and there will be some pushback. I can already see what people will be asking, and that is, “how can she be the face of basketball when she’s not even the best player in her own league?”

And that’s the thing. With all respect to A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Napheesa Collier, I think it’s time to acknowledge the truth. I think it’s time to acknowledge what we are seeing on the court when Caitlin Clark is playing basketball in 2025. Caitlin Clark is the best woman’s basketball player in the world.

When Clark returned from injury over the weekend, she put on a performance that had everyone talking. 32 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, on 7-14 from three. The Fever beat the Liberty 102-88. The same Liberty that had not lost a game before Saturday. Clark has become such an offensive weapon that seemingly the only accurate comparisons to her game come in the form of her legendary male counterparts: “Pistol” Pete Maravich, Jerry West, Steph Curry.

Yes, those are lofty comparisons, but she’s shooting from places that her competition would never dream of like Maravich. She’s scoring and an elite rate and also at the top of the league in assists like West. The sheer threat of her being open to take a three will cause defensive breakdowns like Curry.

If you look at the league leaders in the WNBA at this moment, you won’t see Caitlin Clark’s name, and that’s because she hasn’t played enough games to qualify to be on the leaderboard. Because of her quad injury, she’s only played in 5 games, while the league’s leader in points Napheesa Collier has played in 10.

But if you looked at Clark’s per-game averages, her 21.6 points per game would be second. Her 6.4 rebounds per game would be 17th (she’s a point guard), and her 9.2 assists per game would be first. By far. The leader right now in assists in Paige Bueckers and she has 6.1 per game. The difference between Clark and Bueckers is the same difference from Bueckers at #1 on the leaderboard to Myisha Hines-Allen at #29.

It’s only a five game sample compared to her peers who have played double that, but I’m confident it will continue, because it is close to what she was doing last year when she won Rookie of the Year and was First Team All-WNBA.

She finished fourth in MVP voting in 2024, and if she can stay healthy, she will be a real factor in the MVP race in 2025. At FanDuel right now, Napheesa Collier is the odds-on favorite to win the award at -370. Clark is #2 at +270 odds. That’s is a deficit that can be made up pretty quickly in the WNBA, especially if Clark stays healthy and keeps playing the way she is. If you’re curious, the person with the third best odds is Breanna Stewart. Which makes sense, she’s the best player on the best team. But her odds are +4500, a true longshot to challenge Collier or Clark.

It’s a two person race.

Whether or not Clark wins the MVP doesn’t factor into being the face of basketball. You can be the best player and still not win MVP, ask both Lebron and Jordan about how that works.

Being the face is more than just on-court, as well. Caitlin Clark definitely has that covered. She has player edition Nike’s being released what feels like monthly, she has been put on the same level as Patrick Mahomes in the State Farm commercial pecking order, she has the first Wilson basketball signature ball since Michael Jordan, and just like every super-mega basketball star before her, has her own Gatorade commercial. We see Caitlin Clark more on ESPN in commercials than we see her in Fever games.

Lastly, she has the edge that is necessary to succeed at this level. As soon as she stepped into the WNBA, we saw Clark get shoved, fouled, hip checked, argued with, and mean-mugged at. She’s handled it all. She’s given her fair share of all of the above back to her opponents. It seems like nothing fazes her.

She’s built for this. And whether she wants the title or not, it’s hers. She took it. She earned it.