Basketball debates are as inevitable as buzzer-beaters. Fans love a good comparison—Jordan vs. LeBron, Bird vs. Magic, and now, Caitlin Clark vs. Juju Watkins. But while the basketball world argues, one national analyst has decided to put an end to the debate with one powerful reason. And if you look at the numbers, it’s hard to argue against her.
“Anytime Juju has a great game, people on one side are saying, ‘Oh, Juju is so much better than Caitlin. Look, she’s actually the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball. It’s not Caitlin,’” Rachael DeMita said on a recent episode of her podcast. “And then people on the other side, anytime they see Juju have a good game, they want to pull up anytime Caitlin has had a great game. It has gotten absurd, and I’m so sick of it because I don’t think any of it is productive to any of these players.”
And she has a point. Clark and Watkins aren’t just different players—they play entirely different styles of basketball.
Clark, known for her deep three-point shooting, changed the game with her long-range accuracy. She made 207 threes on 560 attempts (36%) in her sophomore season, compared to Watkins’ 127 threes on 390 attempts (32.6%). Clark also amassed 471 assists in her first two years at Iowa, nearly doubling Watkins’ current total of 219. But Watkins holds the rebounding edge, collecting 457 boards to Clark’s 433. And in terms of raw scoring, Watkins actually outpaced Clark’s first two years, finishing her second season with 1,684 points compared to Clark’s 1,662.
And if we are to bring in Paige Bueckers, she is the most efficient scorer of the three. She shot an astonishing 52.4% from the field in her freshman year, with a three-point percentage of 46.4%. What truly sets Bueckers apart is her ability to protect the ball—her assist-to-turnover ratio (3.82) is the highest among the trio, making her the most reliable playmaker.
“The funny thing about all of this is Paige Bueckers, Juju Watkins, and Caitlin Clark have three completely different styles of games,” DeMita added. “Wouldn’t it be fun to break down the style of play for each of these players?”
Clark forces defenses to pick her up at half-court because of her deep shooting ability. Her playmaking skills developed over time, making her not just a scorer but a facilitator.
Watkins, meanwhile, has a game reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s—smooth, methodical, and dominant at all three levels. “She has the mid-range, she can score on three levels, and she also is a good defender,” DeMita said. “She’s in the right spots. She blocks shots. She’s long. She’s athletic.” However, Watkins isn’t known for her three-point shooting, nor does she play like Clark in terms of high-volume assists.
Then there’s Bueckers, who might be the most complete in terms of efficiency. “Among all of them, she’s probably the most efficient when it comes to scoring, when it comes to not having so many turnovers in the game, when it comes to protecting the ball,” DeMita explained. “She is also a playmaker. Paige can score on every level, but I think one thing with Paige, she’s so shifty when she goes to the basket and she will get a bucket.”
The bottom line? There is no single “best” player among them—just three incredibly different and equally valuable talents. As DeMita put it, “We have players like Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins who are making names for themselves. I don’t want their name, their legacy, and I don’t think they want it either, to just be based on comparisons to another player.”
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