Caitlin Clark Hypes Fever's Lexie Hull for Major WNBA Award

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jun 19, 2025 11:40 PM ET

Over the past season, the Fever have made it clear that they intend to vault from an also-ran with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA in back-to-back years to a franchise that is pointed directly at a league championship. Certainly, adding a star like Caitlin Clark to the mix goes a long way toward that goal.

But having the right role players, too, has been a key in how this team has been reconstructed. And one of those role players formed a tight bond with Clark almost immediately in Indiana last year: Lexie Hull.

On Thursday, ahead of Indiana's showdown in San Francisco against the expansion Valkyries, Clark was asked about Hull, who was a standout at nearby Stanford before going to the Fever with the No. 6 overall pick in 2022.

"The game is different when Lexie is on the floor," Clark said. "Her energy, her tenacitythe way she affects the game--whether she's scoring or she's not, she's our best defensive player, I think she is one of the best defensive players in the league. She's active, she's aggressive and also she shoots the ball really well. She's made a lot of 3s for us, she's shooting at close to 60% which is really unheard of in all of basketball, you just don't see that.

"So, I am just really proud of her, she always just puts her head down and keeps working. In my eyes, she is probably the top player in this league for Most Improved. I think she has improved in almost every statistical category. I am really happy for her and lucky to have a teammate like her, honestly."

Hull has improved, no doubt. She is playing more--30.3 minutes per game--and is averaging career highs with 9.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals. Hull is shooting 48.8% from the field and, incredibly, 56.7% from the 3-point line.

Hull has a whopping plus-34.7-point on/off rating, too, according to Basketball-Reference.com, as the team is 18.3 points better offensively when she is playing and the opponent is 16.4 points worse. That leads the Fever, by far. (Clark, at plus-15.0, is No. 2 among the regulars.)

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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