Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark's offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.
Clark was awarded a foul during Monday's tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.
Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark's flopping antics.
Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn't sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.
Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89–72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they've beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.
Business is booming in the WNBA, largely thanks to the highly coveted rookie class headlined by the likes of Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink and Angel Reese, among others.
With the first month of the 2024 season officially past, the league announced its TV ratings and attendance details for the month of May. It comes as no surprise that both are up massively compared to last year, with TV ratings reaching all-time highs and attendance at its highest mark in 26 years.
The league reported that approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games in May, the most the league has recorded since 1998. More than half of the league's games have resulted in sellouts, an increase of 156% over last season.
In terms of television viewership, the league noted that WNBA games have logged an average viewership of 1.32 million viewers per game across ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC and CBS. That figure is almost three times more than last season.
The season-opening matchup between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun recorded an average of 2.12 million viewers on ESPN 2, ESPN+ and Disney+, making it the most-watched WNBA game on any Disney platform in history.
Six days later, the Fever's rematch against the Sun on ESPN drew the largest TV audience for any WNBA game on the network with an average of 1.56 millions viewers.
Furthermore, merchandise sales have skyrocketed. The WNBA reports that the WNBAstore website has received a staggering increase in transactions of more than 756% compared to this time last year.
Sunday brings a loaded WNBA slate of Commissioner’s Cup games before Game 2 of the NBA Finals tips off, giving us a chance to watch basketball all day long.
It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
The Washington Mystics and New York Liberty kick off the action on Sunday after 3 p.m. EST, but that’s not the only game I’m betting on today.
There are two player props that I’m targeting for some veteran players, as well as a moneyline pick in the Dallas Wings-Phoenix Mercury matchup with Brittney Griner and Rebecca Allen back for the Mercury.
Let’s break down each of these picks for a basketball-filled close to the weekend:
The Wings have dropped four games in a row, and they lack the offensive firepower after Arike Ogunbowale to compete with a fully healthy Mercury team in my eyes.
Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard being out has forced several Wings players to step up into bigger roles than they’d usually have.
Even though Ogunbowale is scoring the ball at a high rate, she’s not shooting it efficiently, and neither are the Wings as a whole. They rank eighth in the league in effective field goal percentage, and that’s not the worst part of their advanced numbers in 2024.
Dallas is also 10th in the league in defensive rating, which is a major concern given the weapons (Griner, Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Copper) that the Mercury have on offense.
Now, I don’t want to act like Phoenix has been elite this season. It actually ranks 11th in defensive rating and 10th in net rating in 2024, but we have to remember that two starters were out for the first 10 games of the season.
The first game they came back?
Phoenix promptly beat the best team in the Western Conference right now as a 5.5-point underdog.
The Mercury have some big wins (over Minnesota and Las Vegas) and their defense should improve with Griner protecting the rim. Before Phoenix was running an extremely small four-guard lineup.
I think this is a buy low spot on the Mercury before oddsmakers realize how deadly this team can be at full strength.
Sabrina Ionescu OVER 18.5 Points (-105) – 0.5 unit
Sabrina Ionescu has been on fire as of late, scoring 22 or more points in four of her last six games, pushing her season-long scoring average to 17.8 points per game.
After a slow shooting start to the season, we’re starting to see what the two-time All-Star is truly capable of, and she’s coming off a huge 24-point game in a win over the Connecticut Sun on Saturday.
With Courtney Vandersloot (personal) likely out of the lineup for the second straight game on Sunday, Ionescu should play pretty heavy minutes against the Washington Mystics, who rank ninth in the league in defensive rating this season.
Plus, Sloot usually initiates a ton of offense, so it’s likely that Ionescu will have the ball in her hands even more than usual in this game. Despite a poor 4-for-12 shooting game against the Mystics earlier this season, Ionescu is one of my favorite targets on Sunday.
Nneka Ogwumike OVER 16.5 Points (-110) – 0.5 unit
For the third time this season, Nneka Ogwumike and the Seattle Storm will match up with the Minnesota Lynx, and Ogwumike has dominated this matchup in 2024.
The veteran forward had 20 points on 10-of-18 shooting in the season opener before dropping 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the next matchup. On the season, Ogwumike is averaging 17.7 points per game, clearing 16.5 points in five of her seven appearances.
She’s seen her scoring drop in her last three games (10, 17 and 12 points), but Ogwumike has still attempted double-digit shots in all but one game.
Given her success against Minnesota this season, I’ll buy low on this prop at 16.5 after it was nearing 20.5 earlier in the season.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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If you think Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark's rise over the last four years—from Des Moines-area high school basketball star to one of the most transcendent college athletes ever—has been the stuff of Disney movies, you are not alone.
Disney+ will debut in the live sports space next Tuesday by airing Clark's WNBA regular season debut, ESPN toldThe Hollywood Reporter Tuesday.
The Fever are slated to open their season against the Connecticut Sun, one of four games scheduled for the league's first day. A second matchup between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces will also air on Disney+.
These two games will be the first traditional live sporting events to air on Disney+, barring a pair of themed animated telecasts of NFL and NHL games.
Clark was selected with the No. 1 pick by Indiana in the WNBA draft out of Iowa on April 15, part of a heralded rookie class that includes Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese and Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink.
