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Caitlin Clark: Anger and hard fouls in the WNBA
A’ja Wilson, for example, star player of the Las Vegas Aces and recently unanimously voted MVP, initially resented the hype surrounding Clark: “He’s a rookie. You always ask us these questions as she’s a grown woman, who’s been playing in this league for a long time… I’m just tired of this topic.”
She’s not the only one who can’t stand the joy: WNBA legend Diana Taurasi predicted that Clark will have a rude awakening in the league: “You look superhuman when you play against 18-year-olds. But now she will meet grown women, who have played professional basketball for a long time.” What he got right, even in the beginning: Clark struggled in his first games and set a record for the most turnovers in his debut (10).
The development player was treated so badly that his coach and even LeBron James complained publicly. Hard fouls, verbal abuse and extreme physicality are the price of glory.
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However, these difficulties quickly dissipated, as he did in college, Clark began to break records: he was the first rookie with a triple-double, broke the record for the most assists (19) in a WNBA game, and became a rookie of the Month multiple times and became the first rookie with 450 points and 200 assists. Of course, she also went straight to the WNBA All-Star Game and received the most fan votes (700,735) – an incredible number by WNBA standards.
Clark finished his first regular season averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists, shooting 34.4 percent from the three-point line and playing an impressive 35.4 minutes per game. Despite a weak start to the season (3-9), the Fever confidently qualified for the playoffs and finished fourth in the MVP rankings as a rookie. The sequel follows.