Caitlin Clark has returned to the WNBA record books despite failing to lead the Indiana Fever to victory on Saturday night.
At just 22 years old, Clark has become the fastest player to reach 500 points and 200 assists in the history of women’s professional basketball in just three months of her WNBA career.
The Fever were unable to celebrate Clark’s personal milestone with a win, however, as they lost by 10 (90-80) to the Minnesota Lynx. Clark scored 23 points and eight assists in that game.
The first pick in the draft came to the league from Iowa, known for its NCAA scoring records, and in particular for its long three-pointers. Now, he holds records for assists.
“I’ve always been able to see something happening before it happens,” Clark said after the Fever defeated Phoenix on Aug. 16 to complete their first season sweep of any team since 2020. “I think (Kelsey Mitchell) can tell (now) when I want her to go out the back door, when I want her to cut the ball or something like that. It’s that chemistry you get when you’re used to playing with each other.”
Caitlin Clark is the youngest player to reach 500 points and 200 assists in WNBA history
‘It’s taken time, but I think we’re really starting to get there.’
Anyone who has seen it (and yes, millions of fans still tune in) can see the difference.
After a rocky start, the Fever opened the season with nine games in 16 days, losing eight of them, as Clark struggled to learn the playbook and how to adjust. Her turnovers outnumbered her assists. And there were more questions than answers as frustration seemed to creep into the mix.
Since then, Indiana has bounced back with a 12-7 record, cementing its playoff position. And all the angst has been replaced with smiles and high fives. No accident.
A compressed schedule between the end of Clark’s college season and the start of the WNBA season didn’t give Indiana much time to practice, or for players to learn each other’s nuances. So during the month-long Olympic break, coach Christie Sides changed the practice routine and challenged Clark.
“There were a lot of times during drills where we were running certain offenses and I would tell (Clark), and only her, so she would have to tell the players what we were running or where to go,” Sides said. “I would throw some things, some plays that we hadn’t run, so she would have to think it through and put people in the right position.”
Clark has responded and his teammates appear to be following suit as well.
Fever coach Christie Sides deserves credit for rejuvenating Clark during the Olympic break
In its first two games since the break, Indiana looked impressive in wins against Phoenix and Seattle. The Fever outscored the Storm 33-17 over the final 10 minutes.
Mitchell is 11-for-21 on 3-pointers and 55 points since the restart, while Lexi Hull had a season-high 22 points and was 6-for-7 on 3-pointers in her last game. Forward Aliyah Boston, the 2023 Rookie of the Year, also had nine assists against the Storm after outscoring Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner last Friday. Indiana plays at Minnesota on Saturday.
“You have to adapt,” Mitchell said, describing the learning process with Clark. “She had to make a transition as a professional, and we had to give her what she needed, be a resource and fill those gaps.”
“She’s one of those players whose basketball IQ is going to take us a lot of places, so you have to figure out where you fit in, know how to read her and adapt to her.”
Clark (seen at the WNBA All-Star Game) entered the WNBA amid a host of questions about how she would handle the transition to professional basketball.
Since Clark’s dubious debut, which saw him commit a record-setting 10 turnovers, his assist-to-turnover ratio has risen from 1.23-to-1 in May and June to 2.19-to-1 in eight games since July 1. The records seem to fall every week:
– On Sunday, she broke the single-season assists record for a WNBA rookie, moving to No. 232 and ending Ticha Penicheiro’s 26-year streak as the record holder.
– In his final game before the break, Clark broke the league single-game record with 19 assists, capping a streak of six games with double-digit assists in a seven-game span.
– If Clark continues to average 8.3 assists per game, she could break Alyssa Thomas’ single-season record of 316, set last season.
She needs eight 3-pointers to break Rhyne Howard’s rookie record of 85 set in 2022 and with 22 3s in the past 12 games, she would be the seventh WNBA player with 100 in a season.
In addition to assists, Clark is the league’s top rookie scorer at 17.8 points per game.