Candace Parker. Tamika Catchings. A’ja Wilson. Breanna Stewart. Elena Delle Donne. Maya Moore.
These are simply a few of the WNBA gamers who’ve had spectacular, eye-opening rookie seasons.
Add to that checklist Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 decide within the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Not since Parker—who went on to be the primary and solely participant to win each Rookie of the Yr and MVP in the identical season—has a rookie impacted the League and everybody and every thing round it as a lot as Clark.
Name it the Caitlin Clark Impact.
SLAM 252 featuring Caitlin Clark is available now.
Report-breaking performances. Sport sell-outs throughout the nation. Followers packing up and touring wherever she goes. Extra eyeballs than ever on the W. Clark has been the speak of the W.
However there’s a flip aspect to it, too. Heated arguments and debates on sports activities speak reveals and throughout social media are nonstop, all about Clark and her impact on the League. Is she getting an excessive amount of press? Is she being painted because the WNBA savior when there are different gamers who’ve been right here holding up the League for thus lengthy? Depends upon who you ask—and the time of day you ask.
One might argue that by no means has a lot stress been placed on a participant coming into the League. Expectations had been excessive from the leap, even whereas Clark was nonetheless in faculty at Iowa. There, she set the NCAA Division I scoring document with 3,951 complete factors. A lightning fast level guard with quick arms, she additionally turned the Large Ten’s all-time help chief (1,144) and hit essentially the most three- pointers in a single season with 201. So, coming into the League, all eyes had been expectedly on her.
However, paradoxically, Clark has not mentioned a lot in regards to the hype and fanfare surrounding her first season within the W. She seems to have chosen, as an alternative, to simply play her recreation and seemingly be content material with breaking document after document after document and serving to her Indiana Fever workforce do the identical. All of the whereas, she is aiding in a model of pleasure for ladies’s basketball, the likes of which haven’t been seen shortly.
The checklist of WNBA information damaged by Clark is lengthy and exhaustive. There are virtually too many to call. They embody setting the WNBA single-game help document (19) in opposition to the Dallas Wings, recording the primary triple-double for a rookie in WNBA historical past in opposition to the New York Liberty, and breaking the document for many assists in a season by a rookie.
You possibly can’t pass over tying the rookie single-game three-pointers document—Clark made seven of these early within the season within the Fever’s recreation in opposition to the Washington Mystics. Different information embody 21 video games with not less than 15 factors and 5 assists, essentially the most ever in a single WNBA season, and changing into the primary rookie in WNBA historical past to document 400 factors, 100 rebounds and 150 assists in a season.
Clark was additionally named to the WNBA All-Star Sport in July and completed with 10 assists, essentially the most by a rookie within the prestigious recreation’s historical past.
This unbelievable rookie season has additionally included a not-so-great statistic: She recorded essentially the most turnovers in a debut recreation in WNBA historical past, with 10 within the Fever’s opener in opposition to the Connecticut Solar. She additionally has essentially the most turnovers in a single season by any participant in WNBA historical past. There’s positively work to be carried out in that division, however general, the Caitlin Clark Impact can’t be denied.
And it has prolonged past simply her particular person recreation.
The Fever clinched its first playoff spot since 2016 and at the moment sit at No. 6 as we head to print. As well as, the WNBA introduced that the 2025 All-Star Sport will happen in Indianapolis. The twenty first WNBA All-Star Sport, set for Saturday, July 19, 2025, marks the primary time that Indy will host the League’s midseason showcase.
The Fever—already on an upward trajectory after final 12 months’s acquisition of No. 1 decide Aliyah Boston, together with Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull and NaLyssa Smith—have soared to new heights with the addition of Clark. This beginning 5 earned a playoff spot after occurring a sizzling streak following the Olympic break, rattling off seven wins in eight video games. Collectively, they’ve reworked right into a workforce whose ceiling retains rising.
Scorching taking pictures from Hull has landed her in first place within the League in three-point proportion (49.2 p.c). Mitchell, who has been on her personal private tear this summer season, is fifth in three-pointers made this season (96) and ninth in factors per recreation. Clark is the assists chief, averaging 8.5 per recreation and is first within the League in three-pointers made at 111. Boston is fifth in field-goal proportion (52.8 p.c) and eighth in blocks per recreation (1.3).
In August, the Fever led your entire League in scoring (89.7 ppg) and hit a season-best 100 factors in a win in opposition to the Chicago Sky on August 30. Indiana additionally knocked down essentially the most three-point discipline targets within the month with 72.
On August 16, the Fever beat the Phoenix Mercury 98-89, marking the primary time because the 2015 common season that Indiana has swept its regular-season collection with Phoenix. Lower than two weeks later, Indiana toppled the Solar, 84-80, for the primary time since 2021.
The workforce’s success has additionally prolonged to its coach, Christie Sides, who formally entered the Coach of the Yr chat and was named WNBA Coach of the Month for August after guiding the Fever to a 5-1 document. Sides is the primary head coach in franchise historical past to earn the consideration.
Clark has racked up accolades League-wide as nicely. In August, she was named each WNBA Japanese Convention Participant of the Month and WNBA Rookie of the Month. It was the third time she earned Rookie of the Month honors, having additionally obtained the popularity in Might and July, whereas marking the primary time she was named Participant of the Month. She was lately acknowledged because the WNBA Japanese Convention Participant of the Week for the second time in her younger profession, and she or he additionally leads her rookie class in scoring, assists, steals, free-throw taking pictures and minutes performed. And on September 13, she broke the WNBA’s all-time assists document, beforehand held by the legendary Ticha Penicheiro.
The participant many name the feminine Stephen Curry has been below the microscope since earlier than she entered the League, and the warmth has been turned up all season lengthy. Whether or not you agree or not, whether or not you’re a fan or not, Clark has handled the stress, lived as much as the expectations (even exceeded them in some ways) and has cemented her identify within the sport after just one 12 months as a professional.
The Caitlin Clark expertise has solely simply begun but it surely’s already in full impact
Buckle up.
Photographs by way of Getty Pictures.
