Is Caitlin Clark the better rookie? Or is UConn Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers the better in the category? For one NFL analyst, the answer is clear, and the winner is separated by one particular distinction.
In a video, former NFL star Emmanuel Acho gave his honest thoughts on the comparison between Catilin Clark and Paige Bueckers for their respective rookie years.
“Paige is a better all-around basketball player,” Acho boldly proclaimed. “To me, she has always been a better all-around player. I think she is a more efficient basketball player. She’s a more fundamentally sound basketball player in my mind. Paige’s efficiency is what’s crazy.”
More than any other stat, Acho highlighted how Bueckers is the more efficient player than Clark.
“I think she shot 47 percent from the field and 38 percent from three, as opposed to Caitlin, who shot 38 percent from the field and 32 percent from three,” Acho said. “Paige’s efficiency is a separating factor for me.”
I’m taking Paige Bueckers over Caitlin Clark. Basketball heads, am I trippin?
🎥: @speakeasytlkshw pic.twitter.com/hdZK0TKVug
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) September 17, 2025
In 2024, Caitlin Clark made her WNBA debut with one of the most impressive rookie seasons ever seen. She averaged 19.2 points per game, 8.4 assists (the highest in the league), and 5.7 rebounds. Her 329 assists broke the single-season rookie record, while her total of 761 points broke a scoring record that had stood for over 20 years.
Clark also rewrote the rookie three-point record with 122 made triples and became the first first-year player to log multiple triple-doubles, performances that earned her near-unanimous Rookie of the Year honors.
Caitlin Clark Praised by Fever HC for bench Contributions
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White praised the team’s star Caitlin Clark for her work on the sideline during the Fever’s playoff run and commented on the guard’s phenomenal court vision.
“Caitlin certainly has a great basketball IQ,” White said. “Her ability to communicate some of the things that she’s seeing on the floor, offensively, defensive coverages, whatever it might be. Where some open opportunities are, encouraging her teammates not to pass up shots because I feel like sometimes we do.”
Clark has only played 13 games this year, which has allowed her to take advantage of the unlucky situation by helping to notify coaches and players about chances to score or about coverage breakdowns. White said she is making more communication efforts with an already thin backcourt that suffered season-ending injuries to important players Aari McDonald and Sophie Cunningham.
For the 2025 season, Caitlin Clark averaged 16.5 points per game, 8.8 assists, and 5.0 rebounds. She shot 36.7% from the field and 27.9% from beyond the arc.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
