Lisa Leslie strongly echoes Caitlin Clark's 'egregious’ take on NCAA transfer portal

Caitlin Clark spent all four years of college basketball playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes, a rarity in today's NCAA culture. While the transfer portal has benefited many athletes and schools, it hasn't sat well with the Indiana Fever star.

On Thursday's episode of "New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce," Clark was asked about her thoughts on the latest liberal trend in college sports.

"The transfer portal is crazy—especially in football," Clark said. "That's where I think it's gotten the craziest. It's kind of sad. You lost a little bit of that amateurism of college sports, but also, it's the world we're living in. Now we got people on their fourth school in their seventh year. It's getting egregious."

Supporting Caitlin Clark was WNBA legend Lisa Leslie in the comment section of the Instagram post.

"I was literally saying the same thing today!😂"

[Credit: IG/@ highlighther]

Caitlin Clark joined the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2020, after graduating from Dowling Catholic High School. In her four years at Iowa, she not only broke scoring records but also put women's basketball on the map and the rest is history.

She played 139 matchups for the Hawkeyes, averaging 28.4 points on 46.2% shooting, along with 7.1 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. She also became the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader, previously held by Kelsey Plum since 2017.

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Caitlin Clark on NBA rating decline

The NBA's declining ratings have been a talking point in recent years, with the reasons being lack of physicality, excessive 3-point shooting and apparent absence of competition among players.

However, for Caitlin Clark, the reason isn't as complicated as it seems.

"Honestly, I feel like the average basketball fan doesn’t understand how good NBA players are," Clark said. "And they think it looks like they’re not trying. I promise you they’re trying. They’re just, like, so good. That’s why it looks like they’re not trying.

"Obviously, the physicality of the league has changed a lot. I wasn't around when it was much more physical and maybe people want more beef and physicality, and people think it's gone soft. But I think that's also because the skill has just changed." (1:01:18)

The NBA ratings have been declining since 2018, and by the start of the 2024-25 season, there has been a sense of panic regarding the substantial drop in viewership.

However, the number of views the NBA managed to get during this year's Christmas Games should at least dilute the panic. In the 2024-25 season, all five Christmas Games garnered over 5.33 million viewers, an 87% increase from last year.