Caitlin Clark shares plans for offseason, reflects on first year in WNBA
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (WISH) — Caitlin Clark’s Rookie of the Year season is officially over.
The Indiana Fever’s 87-81 loss to the Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of the WNBA Playoffs’ First Round was the final game of Clark’s first season.
“Obviously, this is a tough one, especially because we climbed all the way back in and had our opportunities late,” Clark said. “I think it’s a good little taste of what’s possible for this organization and this franchise. There’s a lot for us to hold our heads high about.”
The Fever phenom had 25 points, nine assists and six rebounds against the star-studded Sun squad, sinking three of her 12 three-point attempts. That stat line made Clark the first rookie and youngest player ever in WNBA playoff history to have a 25/5/5 game.
“We’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group,” Clark said. “But we came together and had a lot of fun playing with one another, and that’s sometimes the worst part of it is you feel like you’re really playing your best basketball and then it has to end. But I’m proud of this group. We stayed resilient all year.”
For over a year straight, Clark’s life has been dominated by basketball. She went immediately from leading Iowa to a second-straight national championship game, to being picked No. 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Her rookie season tipped off just weeks later in the same place it ended — the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Clark turned an up and down start into a unanimous Rookie of the Year campaign — averaging over 19 points a game, leading the league in assists and finishing fourth in the MVP voting.
What’s Clark going to do with her newly found off time?
“Maybe play some golf. I think that’s what I’m going to do until it gets too cold in Indiana. So I have to become a professional golfer.”
Clark’s teammate Aliyah Boston took some exception to that comment.
“Not too much, babe,” Boston said. “You play basketball.”
Clark did add that she wants to take the time to reflect back on her first season in the W.
“It was special,” Clark said. “There were a lot of things that this group accomplished that a lot of people probably didn’t think was possible… It’ll definitely be a little weird for me over the course of the first couple weeks, and then, I’m sure I’ll get bored and pick up a basketball.”
Clark ends her historic rookie season in the WNBA with a multitude of records, including:
- Most points by a point guard in a single WNBA season
- Most double-doubles by a rookie guard in a single WNBA season
- Most points and assists by a rookie in WNBA history
- Most three-pointers made by a rookie in a single WNBA season
- Fastest player in WNBA history to reach 100 three-pointers
- First triple-double in Indiana Fever history
- First WNBA player to be named Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month
- Most double-doubles and three-pointers by an Indiana Fever player in a single season
- Most 10+ assist games in a career in Indiana Fever franchise history
With Clark’s addition, the Indiana Fever improved from a 13-win season in 2023 to 20 wins and a spot in the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2016.