Caitlin Clark didn’t disappoint in her WNBA debut on Friday night, a 79–76 preseason loss for the Indiana Fever at the hands of the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, TX.
Clark, playing professional basketball for the first time, looked right at home, scoring a team-high 21 points while draining five three-pointers in 28 minutes of action.
The Iowa product also provided a highlight reel moment in the first quarter, as she lost Wings defender Jacy Sheldon on the dribble—perhaps due to some contact by Clark—resulting in Sheldon falling to the floor as a photographer with impeccable timing snapped the picture. The Fever posted the epic photo onto X, formerly Twitter, and WNBA fans absolutely loved it.
Kudos to Gregory Shamus of Getty Images for getting the perfect photo. Clark went on to drain the three-pointer, to the delight of the sold-out crowd at the College Park Center.
Clark will next take the court for her home debut against the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday night after the contest was rescheduled to avoid conflict with the Indiana Pacers’ playoff game.
Caitlin Clark was back in New York on Sunday night for the Indiana Fever's showdown against the New York Liberty at the Barclays Center, and she treated a group of young basketball fans to an awesome moment after they asked her to snap a photo before the game.
Clark was warming up ahead of tip-off on Sunday when she happily obliged a group of Fever fans who wanted to take a photo with her.
In a moment captured by sports reporter Aliyah Funschelle, the group of kids could be seen beaming after Clark walked over and greeted them with some high fives, and they hopped up and gathered around in order to take the photo.
Indiana has gotten off to a slow start to the season, but they picked up a much-needed win on Saturday against the Chicago Sky in order to improve to 2–8. There was some physical play in that game, including a controversial moment between Clark and Sky's Chennedy Carter, but the 22-year-old didn't let any lingering frustrations stand in the way of a heartwarming moment between herself and some of her biggest fans.
Across 10 games in the WNBA, Clark is averaging 16.9 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds.
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think the Timberwolves are going to complete the comeback, but I’m glad they’re at least shortening the break before the NBA Finals.
Over the course of her first seven WNBA games, Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark looked like, well, a rookie. She had a handful of solid offensive performances (three games with at least 20 points) but also her fair share of struggles (like a 2-for-8 shooting night in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday).
But in Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, Clark had her first true superstar game as a pro, scoring 30 points (on 7-of-16 shooting) with five rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks. She’s the first rookie since Rhynne Howard in 2022 to have a 30-point game and the first since Sabrina Ionescu in ’20 to have 30 points, five assists and five rebounds in a game. Not impressed yet? Clark is the first rookie in WNBA history and just the fourth WNBA player ever to have at least 30 points, five assists, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a game.
That’s the kind of performance fans expected from Clark when she turned pro, and it was only a matter of time before it became a reality. Every rookie needs some time to adjust to the higher level of play in the pros, and the transition is especially hard for WNBA players who had barely a month between the end of their college season and the start of their rookie year.
But it wasn’t all positive news for Clark. For one thing, she also notched seven turnovers. Losing the ball has been the biggest problem for Clark in her brief pro career. She currently leads the WNBA in turnovers per game with 5.3, well ahead of the next closest player, Skyler Diggins-Smith with 4.3. Turnovers are nothing new for Clark. She led the NCAA in that category three times in her college career and ranks third on the all-time list. But if the biggest problem with her game is that she coughs the ball up a little more often than you’d like, that’s something the Fever can certainly live with.
More disappointingly, the Fever lost the game, 88–82, to drop to 1–7 on the season. That’s the second worst record in the league. Only the winless Washington Mystics (0–6) have been worse.
“I think I just played with an aggressive mindset,” Clark told reporters. “I think that was the biggest thing—to play downhill the best I could. We did some good things and then we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
The Fever’s best stretch came immediately after halftime, when they started the third quarter on an 11–0 run to take a 43–37 lead. But the Sparks closed the quarter with an 11–0 run of their own to go up 59–55. The Los Angeles lead swelled to as many as 14 in the fourth quarter as the Fever failed to turn the tide.
“You don't give yourself a chance … You can't do something right for two and a half quarters and then just stop doing it,” Indiana coach Christie Sides said. “We were going under some of the screens that were supposed to be going over. We were gambling and getting out of position.
“Instead of us stepping over and stopping them (and) having our teammates’ back, we're reaching. That’s just a lack of discipline.”
The Fever clearly still have a lot to figure out, but the more games like Tuesday’s that Clark has, the easier the wins will come.
Towns stepped up to keep Minnesota alive vs. Dallas on Tuesday. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The foul was originally issued an away-from-ball foul, but it was later changed to a Flagrant 1 after a WNBA review. Carter refused to answer any questions about Clark in her post-game media session, so it's unclear what caused the incident.
Carter didn't keep her silence for too long regarding the situation, as she posted a comment about Clark on Threads on Sunday. The comment was clearly a dig at Clark, who was the No. 1 WNBA draft pick in April.
"Beside three point shooting what does she bring to the table man," Carter wrote.
There seems to be some tension on and off the court now between some of the players.
The foul itself sparked a frenzy on social media, with Fever coach Christie Sides even adding her thoughts on the "unacceptable" foul. She even posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking for something to be done about fouls like this.
This is unacceptable @wnba When will the consistent complaints be heard?!? Something has to be done! https://t.co/QVf1vHA5l4
