“I think it’s hard for people to remember, I just love playing basketball,” Clark said a few hours before she matched her career high with 30 points while leading the Indiana Fever to a win over the Mystics. “This is my job. This is what I’m here for. I’m not here for all the other stuff.”
The “other stuff” has been an incessant part of Clark’s introduction to the WNBA, placing her unwittingly in controversy upon controversy. She has become caught in the middle of a clash between new fans and pundits who feel the need to protect her and veteran WNBA players and observers who have longed for a broader audience and acceptance.
The most recent drama: Clark’s absence from the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball roster. While it has sparked fierce debates in the sports talk realm, her response — expressing support for the players who made the team while setting a goal to earn a spot in 2028 — showcased both her ability to avoid land mines and her familiarity with the spotlight.
“Sometimes it stinks how much the conversation is outside of basketball,” Clark said. “Everybody’s going to have their opinion. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. That’s just what it is. Conversations are going to happen. It’s good for women’s basketball.”
But is it good for her? Diana Taurasi said on ESPN during the Final Four in April that “reality is coming” for Clark. Taurasi was speaking about the difficult on-court adjustment Clark would face in a league with players who are more physically mature and experienced. Clark has dealt with that but also efforts from pundits and fans to either separate her from her peers or pit a league of predominantly Black women against a White woman.
Charles Barkley has called WNBA players “petty” for their reluctance in letting Clark take over as the face of the league. LeBron James asked them to show more appreciation for the attention Clark has brought to the sport. After Chicago Sky reserve Chennedy Carter’s infamous foul, an Indiana congressman sent a letter to the WNBA calling for action against the “excessive attack.” ESPN’s Pat McAfee called Clark a “White b—-” and later claimed it was meant to be a compliment.
Clark said she has shut down social media but can’t avoid all the noise. She still watches games, still catches the occasional argument about her that goes sideways. She also hears the frustration of friends and family who don’t have access to the same blinders she does.
“They see all this stuff, too. You have to remember, we’re regular people with feelings. My parents have feelings. It can definitely be hard at times,” Clark said. “Honestly, I feel like I have a pretty good skill of blocking everything out. I think being in this position, you better have that skill, or else it’s going to break you at some point.”
Her record-breaking college career at Iowa coincided with the establishment of name, image and likeness endorsements, allowing her to reach a level of celebrity that has yielded an army of passionate devotees who are quick to rush to her defense.
“It’s new fans to the game. And they don’t really understand the physicality of the league and how teams play every night,” New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones said. “I think the longer they watch the game, the more you’ll realize that we’re not targeting a specific player. We’re just playing hard.”
Clark has played just 13 games, enough to surpass Sue Bird as the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 200 points and 75 assists. But she also leads the league in turnovers. She has had two 30-point games. She also has had one with just three points — matching the Fever’s win total.
University of Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma recently said Clark “was set up for failure” by “delusional” fans expecting immediate dominance. Taurasi is the last WNBA rookie guard to make an Olympic team, in 2004. She and Seimone Augustus are the only rookie guards in the past 20 years to make the all-WNBA first or second team. Veteran players aware of Clark’s reputation from college hound her the full 94 feet, knowing a shot could go up the moment she crosses half court.
Fever forward Aliyah Boston, last year’s No. 1 pick, said that “it’s always going to be about a lot of other stuff” when a player enters the league as a hyped prospect — and that rough play is a part of it.
“Everyone just wants to prove that this is their league in a sense because even last year, being a rookie, I took some tough hits,” Boston said. “You get back up. And I think you’ve been able to see Caitlin do that. I know it’s frustrating for her. She’s in this league. She just wants to hoop. Some nights, things happen. But we’re going to pick her up.”
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu was the last big star of the pre-NIL era of college basketball. A record-breaking triple-double machine at Oregon, with enviable accuracy from three-point range, she was drafted first in 2020. She has a signature Nike shoe and got a co-sign from the late Kobe Bryant to give her hoops cred that crossed genders.
But injuries delayed her arrival as a true star in the WNBA. Now firmly established in her fifth season, Ionescu has been named an Olympian and nearly outshot NBA superstar Stephen Curry in a three-point contest during February’s NBA All-Star Weekend. Her journey, she said, has required patience.
“It’s tough anytime you’re a top pick coming into the league. It’s like you have this target on your back, your own expectations but also the world’s,” Ionescu said. “Coming out of college, you’re at an all-time high, breaking all these records, being the face of college basketball and then trying to prove that you belong. It’s been really nice to see just how far I’ve come from, thinking I was never going to come out on the right side.”
Anyone who has watched Clark play knows she isn’t some pushover. She chirps. She taunts. She competes. But the lumps she has taken haven’t just been from elbows and shoves. It’s also the mental grind of carrying women’s college basketball through a historic final season at Iowa, breaking every scoring record, reaching the title game for the second year in a row, losing again, then going No. 1 in the draft. She has done all that while elevating viewership for her sport and forcing WNBA teams to find larger venues for her games.
“I’m 22 years old, and there’s a lot of expectations on my shoulders,” Clark said. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot, and I’m going to continue to grow. Allowing myself a lot of grace at times is really hard because I’m a perfectionist and I want to be really good for our organization, for my teammates. And I’ve done some really good stuff, but also I’ve learned a lot, too.”
Clark’s presence has fetched eyeballs for the game, but much of the focus has been on her at the exclusion of others. That will change, Jones said, “as things die down, as the novelty kind of wears off a little bit. … It’s not one player. It’s not two players. It’s a group of individuals that make this league. The more we can dive into the stories of all of the players and really bring it to the forefront, the more we will be able to get brands and everybody else to invest into this league and really be a part of it and help it grow.”
Even with the attention and the challenges, Clark said she is still finding joy in the firestorm.
“I think that’s something you can never lose,” she said. “It wouldn’t be very fun showing up to work every day if I didn’t find a lot of joy. I’m just really grateful to be in this position and whatever comes with that.”
