Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark couldn’t play up to her standards in the 2025 WNBA season, with frequent injuries limiting her to 13 up-and-down games. Nevertheless, she’s been the belle of the ball since college, often compared to Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry because of her unprecedented range.
Even Curry’s trainer, Brandon Payne, has taken notice of her shot-making ability.
Breaking Down What Makes Caitlin Clark Such An Absurd Shot-Maker
Payne revealed the secret for anyone who wants to be the next Caitlin Clark.
“Her compact shooting is up and out with a quick release. She has incredible distance. One reason is, she has tight, repeatable mechanics and shoots through her core and wrist. She lives in her work,” Payne explains, per ESPN’s Paul Biancardi (h/t nosyone4 on X).
Clark’s detractors will quickly point out that she’s coming off a season in which she could only make 27.9% of her 3-point tries. However, between her quadriceps strain and groin injury, she may not have been able to establish her normal base. Her soft tissue lower body injuries may have also affected her ability to transfer power from her base through her core.
When a healthy Clark returns to the court for the 2026 season, she should look a lot more like her usual self.
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That player left Iowa with the most 3-pointers (548) in NCAA women’s basketball history. She made a league-high 122 trey-balls in 2024, breaking the rookie record for most 3s made in a single season. She made 37.7% of her 3-point attempts in college and shot 34.4% from 3-point range as a rookie.
She even had a more outstanding collegiate career than Curry. To be fair to the future Hall of Famer, he left Davidson with the NCAA record for the most 3s made in a single season (162). Had he returned to the Wildcats for his senior season, he’d have broken the NCAA’s all-time record for made 3s. Even so, no argument favors him in that head-to-head with Clark.
Ultimately, it’s often unfair to place unwieldy expectations on players. Yet, the 23-year-old megastar’s bar has been set so high because there really hasn’t been another player like her in the WNBA. What makes Curry her closest player comparison isn’t even necessarily the skillset that she possesses, but the impact she’s made with it.