Caitlin Clark’s brilliant rookie year has another place in WNBA history.
The Indiana Fever guard broke the league record for assists in a single season with her 317th of the season in a game against the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, surpassing the mark that Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas recorded last season.
He did it with an assist to Kelsey Mitchell on an entry play.
Clark already held the WNBA single-game assists record after recording 19 against the Dallas Wings on July 17. After a slow start to the season, she has looked like the league-changing talent she was promised while breaking college records at Iowa.
It all becomes more impressive when you remember that Clark has been playing competitive basketball since last October, having gone from playing in the NCAA championship to her WNBA debut in a span of 37 days.
Caitlin Clark continues making history
Aside from the assists, Clark is within striking distance of the WNBA’s single-season 3-point record. She entered Friday with 112 on the season, 16 behind Sabrina Ionecu’s 128 with three games remaining. And needless to say, she’s not short of rookie records after 38 games. The WNBA simply has never seen a combination of shooting and playmaking quite like hers.
Not all records are good records, however, as Clark already broke the all-time record for turnovers in a season with 209 entering Friday. The previous record was held by Thomas with 137 last year.
That inefficiency hasn’t hurt the Fever much. The team earned its first playoff berth since 2016 last week, breaking the longest playoff drought in WNBA history.
All of this makes Clark the clear favorite to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year award, though she does have some competition in the record department. Her past, present and future rival, Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky, claimed the single-season rebounding record and longest double-double streak before her season-ending wrist injury.
However, Aces superstar A’ja Wilson could theoretically still surpass Reese if she manages 28 rebounds in her final four games of the season.