Caitlin Clark continues to impress
Caitlin Clark headed into the WNBA with sky high expectations after a record breaking career at Iowa. Selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in this years WNBA draft many speculated that Clark would struggle her first year in the WNBA and while she got off to a somewhat rocky start in the first half of the season there’s no doubt that she’s not just lived up to those sky high expectations in the second half of the season but exceeded them.
The Fever headed into the All-star break with a losing record and some critics taking shots at Clark’s ball security but since then Clark and the Fever have been nothing short of a dominant force. Indiana is 8-2 in their last 10 games with Clark smashing records throughout the season.
Everyone knew Clark was an incredible shooter and playmaker from her time at Iowa but how quickly she’s been able to excel at the WNBA level has her setting records seemingly every night. On July 6th Clark became the first rookie in WNBA history to record a triple double. Clark has already secured her second triple double of her rookie year accomplishing the feat again on September 4th.
Clark’s impact on the court is translating directly to the growth of the WNBA her popularity is almost unrivaled in all of sports. The Fever-Wings game on Sunday night set viewership records with 652,000 viewers on NBA TV surpassing all of last season’s NBA games. Six different networks have set viewership records for WNBA games this year and every game featured Caitlin Clark.
Clark isn’t just setting rookie records though she’s competing with the best players in the league in almost every facet of the game. Clark has scored or assisted on 37.6 PPG this season which would be a WNBA record while also leading the league in assists by a significant margin. Clark has 286 assists to this point in the season while Alyssa Thomas in second place has 251 so Clark isn’t just impressing for a rookie she’s one of the better players in the league already.
It’s been a record setting year for the WNBA and Clark is a major force behind it and as she continues to live up to expectations the league is only going to grow. Clark has become must watch TV every time she plays and I look forward to seeing how growth as she’s already taken the league by storm as a rookie.
