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.
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
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.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever suffered an ugly 89-72 loss to the Connecticut Sun on Monday night to fall to 3-10 on the season. Clark finished with only 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting in what was one of her worst games of her young WNBA career.
Clark got into some foul trouble and sat for a long time in the second half, which led to something you're not used to hearing in the arena of an opposing team—fans started chanting "We want Caitlin!" with hopes that the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft could get back out on the court.
Here are those scenes:
Chants of “We want Caitlin” are starting to ring out here at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Clark hasn’t played since the middle of the third, when she picked up her fourth foul. pic.twitter.com/yU0HQDkh4H
“We want Caitlin” chant has broken out at Mohegan Sun Arena. Clark was taken out at the 5-min mark in the third quarter. It is now 3 minutes in the 4th.
