Shannon Sharpe rips Skylar Diggins-Smith for bumping into Caitlin Clark late in the Fever-Sky game on Sunday. [photo: @indianafever, @seattlestorm, @shannonsharpe84]

"Let her cook!": Shannon Sharpe backs Caitlin Clark, calls out Skylar Diggins-Smith for late-game shove

Modified Aug 20, 2024 13:40 GMT

Caitlin Clark had another impressive outing, leading the Indiana Fever to a 92-75 beatdown of the Seattle Storm on Sunday. Clark and Co. answered a slow start with a blistering end to cruise to the win. The Fever are now 2-0 since WNBA action resumed after the month-long Olympic break.

Before the final buzzer sounded, Clark egged on the jam-packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse to keep the noise up. Just as she was about to turn a corner, Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith bumped into her. Multiple videos on social media showed that the veteran seemingly did that on purpose.

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Shannon Sharpe, on the “Nightcap” podcast with co-host Chad Johnson, had this to say about the incident:

“They gotta stop this foolishness. Y’all see the woman speed up. Caitlin Clark is getting the crowd going. Y’all see Skylar Diggins [Smith] speed up to make contact with her. Stop this! Y’all mad cause that corn-fed, Iowa girl, busting y’all a**.

“Y’all say ‘She too weak. She can’t do this.’ She leads the WNBA in assists. She cooking. Let her cook! Let her cook!!!”

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Shannon Sharpe was right about Caitlin Clark “cooking” in the WNBA. Against the Storm, she finished with 23 points, nine, assists, five rebounds, two blocks and one steal. With her orchestrating the plays, the Fever offense hummed for nearly the entire game.

Shannon Sharpe is convinced Caitlin Clark’s scoring can improve while sustaining her playmaking

Caitlin Clark is still a rookie and breaking records almost every time she plays. Clark has been so good that Shannon Sharpe called out USA Basketball for leaving out the point guard from the 2024 Olympics. As good as Clark is now, the Denver Broncos legend is convinced she can still be much better.

During one of the “Nightcap” episodes, he said:

“She has elite skill of passing the ball. Could I see her averaging another 5-7 [more] points while still averaging 8-10 assists? Yes! She’s that good, Ocho.”

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Caitlin Clark is averaging 17.8 points, 8.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. According to Sharpe, she could hike her scoring to around 22-25 PPG while sustaining her elite playmaking.

The former Hawkeye will undoubtedly be a perennial MVP contender if she does end up with those numbers.