Phoenix Mercury Throws Shade At Caitlin Clark On Social Media Ahead Of Friday's Rematch
Caitlin Clark may be 1-0 against Diana Taurasi so far. But the Mercury say they'll take their "six-time Olympic gold medalist any day."
The Phoenix Mercury will open the second half of the WNBA season against the Indiana Fever on Friday night. But ahead of the highly-anticipated rematch, the Mercury's social media team took a little shot at Fever star Caitlin Clark.
The team posted a hype video on TikTok that began with a woman saying, "I miss the WNBA, Caitlin, where are you?" The video then flips to a young fan, who says, "Who's Caitlin, I'm here for [Diana] Taurasi." Then, we see a montage of Taurasi highlights.
The video is captioned: "We'll take our six-time gold medalist any day of the week, thank you."
Shots fired!
Hey, no one here is arguing with Taurasi's greatness. In addition to being a six-time Olympic gold medalist, she's also a former league MVP, an 11-time All-Star, a three-time WNBA champion and the most prolific scorer in WNBA history. She's been playing professional basketball since Clark was, quite literally, in diapers.
READ: Caitlin Clark Says Playing Against Childhood Idol Diana Taurasi Is 'Like A Dream Come True'
But it was an interesting video for the Mercury's social team to post — given that Clark is undefeated against her former childhood idol (and the Mercury) so far. Indiana beat Taurasi's squad 88-82 in their first meeting on June 30.
The Fever won the second match-up, too (95-86 on July 12), but Taurasi sat out of that game with a leg injury.
Caitlin Clark said she grew up idolizing Diana Taurasi. She never dreamed she'd have the opportunity to play against her.
(Photo by Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images)
Still, it's a fun rivalry between the No. 1 overall pick in 2004 and the No. 1 overall pick in 2024.
Taurasi made headlines in the spring when she publicly warned Clark that the WNBA is a different animal than college hoops. But Clark has lived up to the challenge, and after their meeting in June, Taurasi gave the rookie props.
"It’s amazing," Taurasi said during her postgame press conference "What Caitlin’s been able to do in her short career so far has been nothing short of remarkable. The one thing that I really love about her … she’s put the work in. Even throughout her short WNBA career, it’s been a lot of pressure, a lot of things thrown at her and she keeps showing up and she keeps getting better every single game. So her future is super bright."
The Fever and Mercury tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET. We'll see if the six-time gold medalist has the upper hand this time around.