From being a senior in college and the star of the Iowa women’s basketball team that went to the national championship, to then being drafted right after and jumping into the WNBA season, a lot has happened in the life of Caitlin Clark in the past year.
The Indiana Fever star was left off the Olympic women’s basketball roster this past summer, a decision that sparked a lot of debate, but Clark said the break during the WNBA season due to the 2024 Paris Games was needed.
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Caitlin Clark (AP Photo/Adam Hunger/File)
“We had the Olympic break, so I got a month off in the middle of the season because we had to pause the WNBA season because, you know, the 12 girls go and play in the Olympics. And everybody else, you’re not doing much, so [I] got like a month off, which I really needed, obviously, because I’ve been playing basketball for just a year straight,” Clark said during a recent appearance on “New Heights.“
The Fever started out 1-8 but rallied to finish 20-20 to make the playoffs. A big reason for the Fever’s late-season push was the improved play of Clark after the break.
Prior to the Olympic break, she was averaging 17.1 points per game. Following the break, she looked rejuvenated, averaging 23.1 points per game down the stretch.
Jason Kelce asked how Clark would define her whirlwind of a year in just two words.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever poses for a photo with Lin Dunn and Christie Sides during her introductory press conference on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
“I would say, like, I don’t know, life-changing maybe? All in a good way, like, I mean, things just change really fast, as you guys know. That’s just how the world works and, especially with social media, people see a lot of your life, but that’s what makes it fun and why I’ve had so many cool opportunities, too. So, it’s crazy, like looking back at a year ago today or around this time, like, I was just beginning my senior year at college,” Clark said.
“And obviously, you know, people knew who we were, and people attended our games, but it’s obviously not on the magnitude that it is now. So, like, life just changes fast, but that’s what makes it fun and cool and, you know, quickly started a new chapter of my life, too. Like moving here to Indianapolis, and feel lucky I’m still in the Midwest. I know you [Jason and Travis Kelce] like the Midwest.”
Clark said she is looking forward to being able to have more of a routine in her second season with the Fever after the quick transition from college basketball in the WNBA.
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Lisa Bluder and Caitlin Clark talk during practice for the NCAA women’s college basketball championship game between Iowa and South Carolina on April 6, 2024. (Zach Boyden-Holmes/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“Yeah, for sure, I mean it’s just so unlike any other professional sport, really, from the standpoint of, so I played in the national championship, and I basically went to the draft right after, got picked, and then you basically pack up and move. Like, you’re moving in April, you don’t even finish senior year of college,” Clark said.
“And I guess for you guys, what was it, you go to the [NFL] combine, how long do you have to prepare for the combine, two months? And then you get drafted, and you still got a little time to get acclimated to the new city, you have camp, whatever. It’s not like that, like camp for us is like a week and a half.”
But Clark also said there was a benefit to things moving so quickly.
“I think it was good a little bit, too, like you don’t have time to overthink things, like it’s just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, like you’re just onto the next. But at the same time, you don’t, like, I feel like I never really ended the chapter of college. It was just like you up and left, but maybe that’s good. You don’t have a lot of time to think about it, so I think that’s definitely the weirdest part of, you know, women’s professional basketball and obviously college basketball, too, is just that change,” Clark said.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever talks to the media during an introductory press conference on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
Despite the quick transition into the WNBA, Clark still excelled.
She won the WNBA Rookie of the Year, was named an All-Star and led the WNBA in assists while also setting a record for most assists in a season with 337.
Clark set the rookie record for most total points scored in a season with 769, and she drained 122 3-pointers in her season, which is the second most in a single season in WNBA history.
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