WNBA Rookie of the Year race is over, but Caitlin Clark is so much more than just that

Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Caitlin Clark is so much more than the WNBA’s obvious Rookie of the Year.

CHICAGO — Caitlin Clark smelled blood in the water as she crossed the halfcourt line early in the third quarter. Teammate Lexie Hull had lunged to the ground to fight for a steal, and now Clark was off and running the other way one down the left side of the court. The lone Sky defender in her way was Kamilla Cardoso, a massive 6’7 center and fellow member of the WNBA’s prized rookie class.

Cardoso had given Clark problems in the recent past. Her South Carolina Gamecocks decimated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship game only five months earlier, ending Clark’s college career one win shy of a ring. Back then, Cardoso was part of an opposition that had an overwhelming size, strength, and athleticism advantage on CC and The Caitlinettes. Now, Clark had her right where she wanted her.

Clark drove hard at Cardoso’s chest until the defender had both feet in the paint. Then Clark put the ball between her legs going right-to-left, took two hops back, and drilled a pull-up three-pointer over the outstretched arm of one of the league’s biggest defenders.

College is over, but Clark’s star is still shining as bright as ever. The pace-and-space nature of the pro game only accentuates her world destroying skill set, and this time, she’s got way more talent around her.

Clark’s triple started a third quarter onslaught that turned a close game into a rout. The Indiana Fever beat the Sky, 100-81, in a matchup of two teams headed in opposite directions.

Clark’s Fever are ascending, and have now taken hold of the No. 6 seed in the WNBA Playoffs picture. The Sky have lost five straight, and look like a team stuck in an identity crisis following their mid-season trade of wing scorer Marina Mabrey. Maybe it isn’t totally fair to judge the Sky on this night as they played without emerging star guard Chennedy Carter, who missed her second straight game in Health and Safety protocol, but no one would say these teams are on equal footing anymore.

The Fever have a game-breaking superstar in Clark, and she is already blossoming into one of the best guards in the league barely 30 games into her pro career. Indiana started the year 1-8 during a ridiculously condensed opening schedule that saw Clark struggle with her scoring efficiency and turnovers as the fans complained she was being bullied. In reality, Clark was getting the same “welcome to the league” treatment that feels like a rite of passage for a hot shot rookie in any pro league.

Clark eventually started to figure it out. And then she got some rest. The guard was left off the United States’ roster for the Paris Olympics in a decision that flamed the culture wars. It left some with the impression that fans and media wanted Clark coddled, to be handed everything before she had truly earned it. But as the U.S. won another gold medal — undefeated since 1992! — Clark got the long rest she badly needed.

There was only five weeks before Clark’s final college game and her first pro game. The league wanted Clark on TV as much as possible when the season opened, so they scheduled the Fever for 11 games in the first 20 days of the schedule. Clark had every reason to feel worn down before her professional career had ever truly began.

As the Fever have taken the court out of the Olympic break, no one is complaining that Clark is being targeted anymore. These days, she’s the bully everyone else needs to be scared of.

The Fever are coming together in a terrifying way, and Clark is the straw that stirs the drink. Indiana is 5-1 out of the Olympic break. Their offense is scoring 110.7 points per 100 possessions over that stretch, which is the best in the league. Indiana is even up to No. 4 in offensive efficiency on the season.

The Fever have some serious talent with four players in the starting lineup who were either the No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick in their respective draft classes. Big Aliyah Boston is the reigning Rookie of the Year, and she continues to develop a punishing two-man game with Clark as the interior scorer to complement her long distance attacks. Guard Kelsey Mitchell is a speedy off-ball scorer with deep shooting range and a quick trigger. Forward NaLyssa Smith has had to sacrifice shots for the good of the team, but she’s a hell of a No. 4 option.

Just listen to Mitchell talk about the Fever’s chemistry right now. Indiana occasionally wears “Stranger Things” inspired uniforms, but this is really what’s scary for opponents.

Clark is the player that makes everything go. For all of her accolades as a prolific scorer and deadly three-point shooter, it’s her total mastery of tempo and playmaking that has really unlocked the Fever. The rookie’s shooting range strikes fear into the hearts of defenders the moment she crosses the halfcourt line, and that puts everyone at her mercy.

Clark has a relentless dedication to pushing the ball down the defense’s throat. That’s a physically exhausting brand of basketball, but Clark knows she’ll come out ahead with more possessions and quicker looks earlier in the shot clock. Her passing vision really is immaculate, and she has total confidence in her ability to thread the needle with even the smallest opening. Sure, it contributes to her league-leading turnover numbers, but the buckets that she’s engineering are far more back-breaking for her opponents.

This is the third time I have seen Clark play this year. I was in the gym at Northwestern in Feb. when Clark was chasing college basketball’s all-time scoring record and creating unheard of lines of fans outside of her games. I was at a Sky-Fever matchup in June, where Chicago — then with Mabrey and Carter in the lineup — had erased a 15-point fourth quarter deficit for a season-defining comeback win.

What’s different about Clark in late Aug.? For one, she sure doesn’t feel like a rookie anymore. Yes, Clark is the obvious WNBA Rookie of the Year despite the media doing everything it can to drum up a race with her former college rival (ESPN came out with some fancy numbers this week that had Clark second! NBA 2K25 just gave Clark and Reese the same rating!) Even that doesn’t quite capture it, though.

The WNBA has a Rookie of the Year every year. It has never had a Caitlin Clark before, both in terms of the swell of interest she’s bringing into the league, and her stunning combination of production and style immediately translating on the court.

It was always unreasonable to expect Clark to walk into the WNBA and be one of the league’s best players upon arrival. In her defense, it took all of 30 games. With Clark now cooking at an elite level, Fever can start dreaming of running the league. It probably won’t happen this year with A’Ja Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart’s New York Liberty standing in the way. Wilson and Stewart remain the two best players alive, but it’s already obvious Clark is forcing her name into the next group of superstars who follow them.

Clark is also unlike the anything the WNBA has ever seen because of how she can beat you. She pushes the ball harder than any player in the league, and she’s a threat to score from further away from the basket than any other player alive. There are shades of so many other men’s and women’s superstars in her game, but at her core, she is a child of the version of the game Stephen Curry helped shape. Don’t worry, Clark won’t have to wait until she’s 36 years old for her first Olympic gold medal.

Clark was asked about the purported Rookie of the Year race with Reese before the game, and gave the type of sound answer you would expect.

“I think me and Angel would both give you the same answer,” Clark said. ”We don’t wake up and think about individual awards. I know that’s what all of you think we do. I know we don’t. That’s what everybody wants to make this about. Both of our teams are competing for playoff spots. That is our main focus.”

“For us, everybody can write that but our focus is on winning basketball games,” Clark said. “It’s as simple as that. It’s about winning basketball games. That was the same story for us when we were in college. If you’re playing basketball to win individual awards, no matter what level you’re at, you’re doing it wrong. That’s not fun and that’s not being a good teammate.”

The awards and records keep coming for Clark in the WNBA just like they did in college. The WNBA hasn’t handed her anything. She just keeps getting hers.