Caitlin Clark is officially in the WNBA scorebooks. During the Indiana Fever’s preseason matchup against the Dallas Wings on Friday, Clark drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to secure her first professional points.
Fans would expect nothing less from the 2024 WNBA Draft’s No. 1 overall pick. In four years at Iowa, Clark solidified her spot as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer while guiding the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national championship appearances.
The 6-foot sharpshooter is hopeful to help the Fever find similar success.
“I think, yeah, definitely helping us get back to the playoffs,” Clark said during an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’ “I think that’s goal No. 1, and I think everybody in the Fever organization believes that that’s where we can be in Year 1 for sure.
“Aliyah Boston was Rookie of the Year last year, is a great piece. I think there’s just so much young talent on this roster, and that’s the biggest thing is just buy into that and join that.”
Clark has a massive challenge ahead of her. The Fever have not reached the WNBA Playoffs since 2016. Last season, the team finished the season with a 13-27 record, an eight-game improvement from their 2022 campaign.
Despite Clark’s endless accolades, she hasn’t allowed her humility to escape her. Before the preseason began, Clark admitted she expects growing pains.
“There will definitely be some learning curves and some challenges but also like, I mean, I think my passing translates,” Clark said. “People always want to talk about the flow of 3s, scoring, whatever. But, to be having the talent around me that I’m going to have is like — just feed them the ball.”
If anybody can handle the pressure of expectations, it’s Clark. Iowa repeatedly broke ratings records this season as millions of fans across the country tuned in to see if Clark could live up to the hype. She almost always did.
Now, Clark is ready for another wave of viewers to follow her journey.
“With the magnitude of where everything’s gone, I feel like I’ve tried to stay like right in the middle. I think one of the best pieces of advice that somebody gave me is, at the level you feel like all the praise, that’s the same level you’ll feel all the hate. So, I try to stay right in the middle,” Clark explained.
“It doesn’t really bother me. I think it’s just what comes with it and growing up my mom always said, ‘People want to see you fail.’ That’s just kind of how our world is which is really sad. But, at the same time, I don’t like think about that type of stuff, I just go out there and do me.”
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