When Caitlin Clark was wowing in her senior year in college, breaking records that even led her to surpass Pete Maravich as the best scorer/scorer in NCAA history, many pundits compared the then-Iowa player to Stephen Curry for how far she shot and nailed her three-pointers. Once in the WNBA, those comparisons only grew.

Caitlin Clark and Michael Jordan.

Then, when she was picked No. 1 in the draft and was set to enter the WNBA, other pundits talked about her jump to pro ball comparing it to LeBron James, in terms of expectations built up almost before she debuted.

But Nancy Lieberman has gone further. The Hall of Fame career player named Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods when explaining the impact Caitlin Clark is having in her first year in the WNBA and what it could mean for the future of the competition.

“What Caitlin Clark has done for the game is generational,” Lieberman said. “As a player, I just want to thank you, Caitlin Clark, for just elevating our game. You and so many great players, but what you’re doing is one day you’re going to make all these women multi-millionaires like Tiger Woods did, like Michael Jordan did. And we shouldn’t hate it, we should celebrate it, not tolerate it.”

Lieberman’s words came during a telecast of a WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and the Dallas Wings that, like almost every game Clark plays in, was sold out. In fact we came from an Indiana – Chicago game in which the rivalry between Clark and Angel Reese led to the game with the most expensive tickets in the history of the WNBA… which was also sold out.

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It’s not the first time that Clark has endured colossal comparisons, although mentioning the Fever player in the same sentence as Jordan or Tiger are big words.

Obviously what Nancy Lieberman means is that Clark’s impact on the WNBA could be as significant as Jordan’s impact on the NBA in the late 1980s and early 1990s was to Woods’ impact on professional golf. Clark could be paving the way for the women’s NBA to achieve much greater prominence and with it more investors and better contracts for the players.

Of course, in terms of media coverage at all levels, nothing like this season with the emergence of the Clark phenomenon that can mark a before and after in the WNBA.

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At the moment with her averages 18.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks, and the balance to which she has led the Fever, 17-16, which gives them a spot in the Playoffs for the first time since 2016, the best rookie of the season award is almost assured. Whether he has an impact like Jordan or Woods, it will be time that will ultimately dictate.