The start of Caitlin Clark’s career has not gone as she, the Indiana Fever, or the WNBA and its fans would have hoped. Her team began the season at 0-3 after another loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday.
As Clark continues to settle in to the professional game, the 22-year-old superstar is asking for grace.
This year’s rookie class has brought a massive wave of momentum to the WNBA. Interest is up. Viewership is up. Coverage is way up.
With all of this excitement brings heightened expectations. Everybody who is tuning in for the first time wants to see a competitive, exciting product. Especially when Clark is on the floor.
The greatest scorer in college basketball history was must-see T.V. every time she stepped onto the court at Iowa while averaging 28.4 points per game. Fans expect the same on the professional level.
That has not been the case through three games, as Diana Taurasi predicted.
Clark set a record with 10 turnovers in her debut and was stifled by the New York Liberty in her second game as a pro. Haters were quick to jump all over the No. 1 overall pick. Fans started calling for head coach Christie Sides to be fired and replaced with Lisa Bluder so that Clark could start scoring again.
Caitlin Clark wants everybody to relax!
Although the Fever started the year at 0-2, they have been absolutely terrible in recent history. The consistently poor records is what ultimately led Indiana to be able to draft Aliyah Boston and Clark with back-to-back first overall picks.
- 2016: 17-17
- 2017: 9-25
- 2018: 6-28
- 2019: 13-21
- 2020: 6-16
- 2021: 6-26
- 2022: 5-31
- 2023: 13-27
It would be a successful season if the Fever can play their way into the eight-seed and make the playoffs. That would be the first time in eight years.
With that in mind, Clark asked the fans to take a deep breath. Sabrina Ionescu echoed that sentiment.
“We're a young group there needs to be a little grace given to all of us,” -Caitlin Clark ahead of the Fever’s game against the Liberty: pic.twitter.com/pXiV48M3Kw
— Aliyah Funschelle (@AliyahFun)
Not long after making her plea for grace, Clark actually played her best game of the year thus far. Indiana got smacked by a dominant New York team, again, but she dropped 22 points with eight assists and six boards. It was a very complete game from the highly-scrutinized rookie that also looked more like her college scoring lines.
Patience is a virtue!
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