Kevin Durant recalls watching NCAAW scoring leader Caitlin Clark's game for the first time: "She was always leading that s**t"

They say greatness recognizes greatness, and for a long time now, many NBA stars have praised Caitlin Clark. Her skills and ability to control the game have always been appreciated by the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Magic Johnson and more. Last year, Kevin Durant also joined this list as he spoke of her during a podcast appearance.

The clip is now going viral again as Clark continues to conquer new heights in NCAAW with her all-time scoring record. Kevin Durant's analysis on the "Women Hooping" podcast was from the time he watched her play during the AAU Girls Nationals in Chicago.

"She was in the [U-17] Championship. Her team from Iowa ... they played together so smooth but she was always leading that sh-t. She always had the ball in her hands, everybody was playing off her.

"She just commanded the whole game. I said, ‘Who the hell is this? She is nice.' And they was like, ‘She's the best player in the country.' I was like, ‘Oh damn, I see it now,'” Durant said.

Caitlin Clark reacted to the moment later in an interview as she shared how surreal it was for a star like Durant to talk about her.

"I mean obviously that's super cool. KD's always been one of my favorite players growing up and I think he's one of the best players to ever play the game ... and I remember that moment he was talking about super vividly.

"One of the best memories from AAU basketball. So now that's super cool and anytime an NBA star talks about me, it's honestly a surreal moment," Clark said.

Caitlin Clark receives praise from other NBA players

Isaiah Thomas attended the Hawkeyes' Elite Eight game against Louisville during the NCAA Tournament 2023 and tweeted:

Magic Johnson also tweeted after the game against Louisville:

Johnson also added a unique perspective to her 40-point performance:

LeBron James also joined in to praise the impact that Caitlin Clark has had on the state of Iowa itself:

Caitlin Clark has always been vocal about her modeling her shots around Stephen Curry and the best marksman himself has this to say about Clark:

"She's fearless. We know everything kind of centers around her, but she does a great job of scoring at a high level but also being a playmaker and distributor.

“You can pick anybody that she talks about in terms of being an inspiration, if she picks something from our game, or models something from our game, I don’t ever take that for granted."

When Clark broke the NCAAW all-time scoring record, Curry said:

“Caitlin is special. Her story, journey, the record speaks for itself and it’s cool … it’s just dope from a scoring perspective, from a shooting perspective, just a hooper that’s doing what she’s doing."

With Caitlin Clark all set to enter the WNBA next year, it will be interesting to see how she grows and adapts while impacting games in the big leagues.