Caitlin Clark Picks up the Camera and Captures LeBron James at NBA Game

Caitlin Clark has become the latest sports star to pick up a camera and try capturing the action instead of being in it, appearing last night at an NBA basketball game.

A high-profile basketball player herself, Clark shoots hoops for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA and was media-accredited by the Pacers for last night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which featured LeBron James.

Clark donned a photographer’s vest and had what looks like a Sony Alpha camera with a 70-200mm lens attached. The Associated Press reports that the star player even got a folding seat with a personal logo before the game.

“Got some good stuff coming,” Clark writes on social media.

In December, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnasts Suni Lee and Simone Biles traded uneven bars and balance beams for Sony Alpha cameras to photograph NFL action. Sunisa “Suni” Lee photographed her hometown Minnesota Vikings as they battled the Detroit Lions on Christmas Day, while Lee’s Olympic teammate and 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles picked up a Sony a7R V to photograph a Sunday Night Football matchup between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, California.

The female sports stars are just the latest in a very long series of pro athletes who have picked up a camera to shoot sports. Some former professional sports stars are passionate photographers, including notably MLB Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson.

Former NFL superstar wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is also a noted passionate photographer, who picked up the camera long before he retired from a Hall of Fame football career. Sports photography is a highly competitive field, so it makes sense to me that people who made their living being competitive on the field may take to a profession that channels the same spirit on the sidelines.

Additional reporting by Jeremy Gray