by ASA, Inc.
Friday, Jul 19, 2024There hasn’t been anyone as polarizing in the game of basketball since Michael Jordan arrived in the NBA in 1984 as Caitlin Clark in the WNBA this season. Clark put a spotlight on women’s basketball with a historic career at Iowa University and is easily the most popular player in the entire W in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever.
To phrase this as delicately as possible, there have been several different approaches in her media coverage this season. Some pundits basically refuse to give her credit or acknowledge her greatness, largely because of petty jealousy and insecurities. The other end of the spectrum is the crazed fan that can’t rationally assess her objectively.
We’re here to set the record straight with Caitlin Clark and grade her statistically thus far in her rookie season.
By the numbers…
In 26 games this season she is averaging 17.1PPG (12th), 5.8RPG (19th) and 8.2APG (1st). The Fever stand 11-15 SU on the season which is five more wins than they had last season at this time. In her days at the University of Iowa she was known as a scorer first when she set the NCAA all-time scoring record. In the WNBA she has become an assist machine with 13+ assists in four games this season including 19 in a game which broke the all-time WNBA record for one game. She currently ranks 12th in the league in overall usage percentage.
Where does she stand historically as a rookie?
She is averaging 15+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists per contest through her first 26 games of the season, something only Ionescu (twice), Candace Parker and Lindsay Whalen have done. She is one of only 4 total players in the entire league to rank in the top 20 in points per game, rebounding and assists per game.
Making comparisons to some of the league’s all-time greats at the guard position in the WNBA we find some similar statistics.
Diana Taurasi won rookie of the year in 2004 and helped the Mercury to a 17-17 regular season record in her first season in the league. Taurasi, who is on the short list as one of the greatest WNBA players ever, averaged 17PPG, 4.4RPG, 3.9APG in her rookie campaign.
Another former great, Sue Bird, had comparable numbers in her 2002 rookie season with the Storm – 14.4PPG, 2.6RPG, 6.0APG.
Cynthia Cooper joined the W in the year 1997 and put up 22.2PPG, 4.0RPG, 4.7APG.
Elena Delle Donne was a guard/forward for Chicago and had a successful rookie campaign of 18.1PPG, 5.6RPG, 1.8APG (Chicago went 24-10 SU in the regular season).
The USA Olympic team does not include Clark and It’s a catty costly error by the selection committee.
In 26 years, the WNBA has yet to show a profit financially and has been supported by the NBA. They’ve gained an immense following this season due to Caitlyn Clark. The Indiana Fever has seen the largest increase in attendance from last season with a 312 percent increase. Overall, the league’s average attendance is up 40.3 percent from their final average from 2023. The biggest indicator of Clark’s impact comes when you examine the road attendance in games involving the Fever. Indiana leads the league in away game attendance at 15,333. In a recent game at Minnesota, against a Lynx team that is one of the four best in the W, there were far more Fever/Clark fans than Lynx fans, and it wasn’t close.
Another interesting revelation regarding Clark’s impact on the league’s popularity is the All-Star voting numbers this season. Last year A’ja Wilson was the league’s leading vote-getter with 90,000+ votes. This season Clark is over 750,000 votes, her teammate Aliyah Boston has over 600,000 votes.
The missed marketing opportunity by the WNBA concerning Clark being on the Olympic team is a total travesty.
The argument that Clark isn’t good enough to play on the Olympic team is absurd. The fact that she’s not on the team from a media/marketing standpoint is absolutely insane and negligent by the selection committee. The league was handed the ‘golden goose’ in terms of viewership and popularity and literally blew a perfect opportunity to grow their product. The USA Olympic team has won 7 straight gold medals and won by an average of 16PPG in 1996 in Tokyo and you’re telling me she couldn’t get minutes and or even be an asset with her current statistics?
With their proven track record of NEVER being a profitable entity, the WNBA and the committee that selected the Olympic team clearly lack business sense.
The betting markets have Clark as the clear betting favorite for Rookie of the Year and a heavy chalk at -1100. Behind her is Angel Reese at +650. Clark is +8000 to be WNBA MVP but we wouldn’t recommend making that wager as there are several players in the league that are significantly better than her and on Championship contenders.
The best option to make some cash on Clark will be her player props. Early in the season her scoring prop was inflated, and she stayed Under her points prop in 15 of her first 21 games. She does go into the All-Star Break on a 4-0 Over streak though. She has eclipsed her Assist prop in 9 straight games going into the break and 16 of 26 games on the season.
We look forward to the second half of the WNBA season and can’t wait to see if Clark and the Fever can make a playoff push in the Eastern Conference.
