Who will be Caitlin Clark’s biggest competition for WNBA Rookie of the Year honors?
USA TODAY Sports’ Lindsay Schnell explains why Caitlin Clark has plenty of competition when vying for the rookie of the year award.
INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark hasn’t been in Indianapolis long but already, she’s got a to-do list involving Circle City.
Of course her top priorities are basketball-related. Clark, the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, wants to lift the Indiana Fever into the WNBA playoffs, and wouldn’t mind collecting some individual accolades along the way. She’s been open about her desire to be put on the 2024 Olympic team.
Clark and Indiana tip off against the New York Liberty at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime. The Liberty are one of the most talented teams in the WNBA, boasting two-time MVP Breanna Stewart as well as 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones.
INDIANAPOLIS — As we’ve seen so many times, a few buckets from Caitlin Clark, and her team is right back in this.
Clark scored seven points in the third quarter, helping pull the Fever within 13, 67-56. But Indiana didn’t get a shot off in time as the quarter ended, and the Fever continue to have no answer for Breanna Stewart, who leads all scorers with 28 points. (She also has nine rebounds.)
New York built as much as a 23-point lead in the third, but Indiana seems to have a little fire. Clark hit her first 3, which is huge for her confidence. Can she got on a little bit of a scoring run and include some of her signatures logo 3s in said run? – Lindsay Schnell
Caitlin Clark picked up another quick foul. The Fever rookie was called for a shooting foul against New York’s Breanna Stewart just 30-seconds into the third quarter with 9:31 remaining. Stewart converted both of her free throws to extend the Liberty’s lead to 50-33. Clark now has four fouls, but she remained on the court.
– Cydney Henderson
INDIANAPOLIS — In what should have been a battle of the bigs, Jonquel Jones vs. Aliyah Boston, it hasn’t exactly been a fair fight. Jones has owned the paint. She’s only scored six points, but she already has seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Boston, meanwhile, has eight points, but has mostly been a non-factor inside.
That’s a big part of why the Liberty have a 48-31 halftime lead.
A run midway through the second quarter helped Indiana cut the lead to four, and the Liberty responded by turning the ball over. But the Fever couldn’t capitalize on the other end, and the Liberty have been in full control of this game since.
And there’s more bad news for Indiana: Just before halftime, Caitlin Clark picked up her third foul.
Breanna Stewart leads all scorers with 20 points for New York. – Lindsay Schnell
INDIANAPOLIS — She’s only got two points, but already, Caitlin Clark’s home debut is going better than her league debut did two days ago.
Clark has three assists — two of them to Katie Lou Samuelson for 3s — and three rebounds, and looks considerably more comfortable through one quarter. Perhaps best of all, she only has one foul.
But it’s not going great for the Fever overall. New York has a 25-16 lead behind 11 points from Breanna Stewart, the reigning MVP. The Liberty are owning the battle in the paint, outscoring Indiana 16-8, and they’ve already forced the Fever into four turnovers (three of them by Clark). Also for the Liberty, Sabrina Ionescu already has nine points, three rebounds and an assist. – Lindsay Schnell
INDIANAPOLIS — Less than seven minutes into the game, and it’s already getting chippy.
As Indiana Aliyah Boston got fouled by New York’s Jonquel Jones, the two got tangled up and words — of the “not suitable for work” variety — were exchanged. But a common foul was called, so no harm done, right?
We’ll have to keep an eye on this matchup the rest of the game. – Lindsay Schnell
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will play in front of their home fans for the first time this season when they face the New York Liberty on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. The game is at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Liberty at Fever game will be televised on Amazon Prime.
The Liberty at Fever game will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime. The game also will be available on demand on the WNBA’s League Pass upon its conclusion. Fans can get League Pass by downloading the WNBA app.
- PG Erica Wheeler
- SG Caitlin Clark
- SF Katie Lou Samuelson
- PF NaLyssa Smith
- C Aliyah Boston
New York Liberty starting lineup
- G Courtney Vandersloot
- G Sabrina Ionescu
- G/F Betnijah Laney-Hamilton
- F Breanna Stewart
- C Jonquel Jones
Clark finished with 20 points in her WNBA debut on Tuesday, but it took the rookie some time to get going. She shot just 5-of-15 from the field in the Fever’s 92-71 loss to the Connecticut Sun. The top pick in the 2024 draft also threw the ball away 10 times, a stat that’s sure to nag at her — and definitely not the type of double-double she wanted to record.
2024 WNBA rookies to watch
The 2024 WNBA rookie class is one of the most anticipated in history, led by none other than Caitlin Clark, the scoring phenom from Iowa who re-wrote the college record books. But she’s not the only newcomer expected to make a big impact, and do so immediately. There hasn’t been this sort of attention and excitement around WNBA rookies since 2013, when Brittney Griner, Elena Della Donne and Skylar Diggins-Smith joined the league.
To get you ready for the 2024 WNBA season that tips Tuesday, USA TODAY Sports’ Lindsay Schnell gives a primer on the nine rookies she thinks will have the biggest impact this season. Read more from Schnell here.
Caitlin Clark is inspiring girls all over the world, including one tiny tot. Ahead of her first home game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse vs. the New York Liberty on Thursday, Clark was spotted on the court playing with Aliya, the daughter of Fever forward Katie Lou Samuelson.
Clark was also spotted signing autographs pregame. – Cydney Henderson
INDIANAPOLIS — A WNBA spokesperson confirmed Thursday that starting Tuesday, May 21, all teams will charter to and from each game. That’s one week after the 2024 season opened.
The celebratory fever that swept through the league last week when commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced teams would begin chartering full-time has slightly abated. While players — particularly veterans who have been fighting to fly private for years — are happy about the upgrade, the rollout has been clunky.
And that’s a generous description.
On Thursday, also known as Caitlin Clark’s home debut, the New York Liberty play at the Indiana Fever. But the Liberty didn’t charter to Indianapolis, instead flying commercial on American Airlines. They’ve got a commercial flight home, too — with an early 5:30 a.m. wake-up call Friday. The Fever will also fly commercial Friday to New York for their Saturday game vs. the Liberty. Read the complete story here.
Caitlin Clark wants to be like Steph Curry
INDIANAPOLIS — The summer before her senior year at Iowa, Caitlin Clark made a point to bulk up, adding eight pounds of muscle to her thin, 6-foot frame. She knew the added weight would make a difference as the Hawkeyes slogged through another long season and she fought off multiple defenders each night on her way to leading the nation in scoring.
But this summer she’s busy playing in the WNBA. That means any major changes to her body will have to wait a few months. When she does get in the weight room, Clark has a goal: Be like NBA superstar Stephen Curry.
“Somebody I love to watch is Steph,” she said. “He’s strong. He might be a little small but he’s a really strong guy. That’ll definitely be something that’s important for me to evolve over the course of my pro career.”
The physicality of the WNBA has been a major adjustment for Clark through just three games (two preseason and one regular season). She’s been bumped and bodied every second she’s on the floor, whether she has the ball or not, and is still getting used to that.
Clark is officially listed at 152 pounds, one of the Fever’s smallest players; only 5-foot-7 Erica Wheeler weighs less, at 143 pounds. Adding another seven to 10 pounds of muscle would go a long way for Clark; the guards who have similar builds to her, 6-foot Grace Berger and 6-foot-1 Lexie Hull, check in at 160 and 155 pounds, respectively. Clark knows getting stronger is a key to longevity in the pros but has accepted she’ll have to wait a few months to really attack that aspect of her game: “When this offseason comes, that will probably be one of my primary focuses, gaining more strength.” – Lindsay Schnell
INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday before she made her regular-season home debut, Clark told reporters that she’s excited, at some point, to visit the Indianapolis Zoo.
Considered one of the top zoos in America, the Indianapolis Zoo annually holds a black-tie fundraiser known as “Zoobilation,” billed as the city’s “most anticipated event of the year.” And Indy’s newest resident is angling for an invite: “Maybe I’ll hit up Zoobilation, I heard they’re getting new chimpanzees.”.
Told that her praise of the event is likely to lead to her being the guest of honor, Clark laughed before joking “yeah, Zoobilation is about to have an all-time high of people wanting to go,” a reference to how her presence tends to help set attendance records.
Something else likely to set attendance records: Her play this summer at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the Fever. – Lindsay Schnell
Where Caitlin Clark goes, crowds follow. The Atlanta Dream joined the Washington Mystics and Las Vegas Aces in moving their upcoming games against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever to bigger arenas to accommodate a larger crowd.
Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and the Fever’s No. 1 overall draft pick, said she understands the significance of the hype surrounding her and vowed to continue to show up for fans across the league.
“People are sacrificing a lot to spend money to get here or travel or to pay for their young daughter or son to come and watch us and support us… I understand it because I was that young girl,” Clark said on Thursday. “I’m very aware of it and that’s why I didn’t miss a single game in college.” – Cydney Henderson
10 bold predictions for WNBA season
The 28th WNBA season tips off tonight, so it’s time to start thinking about what’s in store for women’s professional basketball the next few months.
There’s never been more excitement around the women’s game. With a star-studded draft class, a team going for its third consecutive championship and a Summer Olympics that will help drum up interest in women’s basketball, the WNBA is headed into its most-anticipated season since the league debuted almost three decades ago.
So what can we expect this summer? For starters, Caitlin Clark will lead the WNBA in assists and make the Olympic team. Read Lindsay Schnell’s story here.
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Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
