Dawn Staley Says Caitlin Clark's Most 'Dangerous' Weapon is Making Others Better

Head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, Dawn Staley, has led her squad to three NCAA championships over their last nine seasons, reaching the championship game a total of five times during that span.

Staley is also someone who saw great success on the court in her own right during her playing days at the University of Virginia, impressively leading her team to the Final Four three times during her four years in college.

So, in short, when the 55-year-old Staley chimes in with an opinion on women's hoops, or basketball in general, it makes plenty of sense to listen.

On Wednesday, Staley made an appearance on Kylie Kelce's popular Not Gonna Lie podcast, and the two ended up talking about WNBA star Caitlin Clark, who's been an especially hot name this week.

Absolutely loved this segment about Caitlin Clark from Kylie Kelce and Dawn Staley (@dawnstaley)!!! Spitting nothing but facts. Now we need CC to be on @nglwithkylie ???????? pic.twitter.com/ZPaz98apja

— Melissa???? (@Msmelissairene) June 19, 2025

Surprisingly, Staley explained in detail why she believes Clark's well-documented three-point shooting ability with seemingly endless range, is actually not what she deems to be the Indiana Fever star's most valuable and, as she put it, "most dangerous" skill on the court.

"She [Clark] can beat you in a variety of ways. She can beat you obviously with her three-point shot," Staley said. "But for me, the most dangerous thing of Caitlin Clark is her passing ability. Her ability to make other people better. Her ability to have other people's production go up along with her production."

Staley went on to explain why, when she coached against Clark in the NCAA tournament on two different occasions, giving up points wasn't nearly as big of a concern as it was had Iowa's famous No. 22 filled up the stat sheet in other ways.

"That was our emphasis when we won, when beat them [Iowa]...We said Caitlin Clark's gonna get 30 [points]. But she can't have 12 assists. Because if she's got 12 assists, then she's involving her teammates in a way that doesn't quite add up. We can't produce enough points like they can."

Staley also explained to Kelce during her appearance that Clark is "quite incredible" and "quite an anomaly," and credited her for bringing so many eyeballs to the WNBA, particularly all the "new eyeballs."

The accomplished Staley expressed that, while she had only coached against Clark twice, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year has probably been "the most difficult player to scout" due to the variety of ways in which she can beat a team with her innate ability to get other teammates involved, while also housing the ability to be a highly-prolific scorer.

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