Caitlin Clark, the all-time leading scorer in both men’s and women’s college basketball, has been selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
There was never a doubt Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes star for the past four seasons, would be first off the draft board in this highly-talented class. Now, the Fever have Clark and the 2023 first overall pick, center Aliyah Boston, leading the way.
Clark heads into her WNBA rookie season with millions of fans already in tow, as she mesmorized the sports world to the point where South Carolina legendary head coach Dawn Staley already dubbed her one of the greatest of all time in women’s basketball.
Clark averaged 28.4 points over her four seasons with the Hawkeyes, including 31.6 points per game with 8.9 assists and 7.4 rebounds during her incredible 2023-24 senior season.
She broke LSU men’s basketball legend Pete Maravich’s NCAA all-time scoring record this past season among many other accolades, which included NCAA Tournament records on the way to a national championship game run. Iowa ended up losing to undefeated South Carolina in the end.
Clark finished her career with a total 3,951 points, including 548 three-pointers made on 1,452 attempts for a 37.7% mark from beyond the arc.
It may not have been the way Clark wanted to end her career, especially after losing the national title game to LSU the season prior, but her contributions to women’s basketball over the past two seasons have been impossible to ignore.
The national title game drew 18.7 million viewers to ABC’s coverage with a peak of 24 millions viewers during the game, per ESPN. That’s 89% higher than last season and 285% higher than the 2022 national championship game.
Furthermore, it was the most-watched sporting event outside American football and the Olympics since 2019.
Of course, the Gamecocks going for an undefeated season contributed to the viewership, but the “Clark Effect” was in full swing for months prior, with many hoping she could cap her career with a national title.
That stardom is expected to carry over to the WNBA, which already has numerous stars, like the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, Las Vegas Aces’ Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson, and Seattle Storm’s Nneke Ogwumike among many others.
“I know there’s probably going to be a learning curve, but I’ve always had confidence in myself and that’s always what I remind myself. You’re not here by accident,” Clark told The TODAY Show ahead of the Draft.
“I think more than anything, I’m just really excited. This is a dream. This is something I wrote down on a piece of paper in the second grade.”
The Fever will be relying on Clark’s abilities to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2016 next season. Indiana finished 13-27 in the 40-game regular season last year after going 5-31 and 6-26 in the previous two seasons.
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