The recognition of girls’s basketball, and girls’s sports activities usually, skyrocketed in 2024, and it’s undoubtedly that Caitlin Clark could be thanked for that.
Not solely was Clark the preferred feminine athlete over the past 12 months, Time named her their Athlete of the 12 months, a title held by worldwide stars like Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods lately.
Clark started the yr on the again finish of her record-breaking school ball profession. As a senior at Iowa, she was a number of months faraway from dropping the nationwide championship to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, the place Reese’s “You Cannot See Me” taunt was the unofficial begin of a rivalry each on and off the court docket (though Clark, herself, will inform you there isn’t any such factor between them).
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever talks to the media throughout an introductory press convention on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE through Getty Photographs)
In any case, the gesture prompted loads of dialogue, which became additional tradition wars this summer time with Clark as a WNBA participant. That, although, didn’t come earlier than she set the NCAA file (each women and men) for many factors scored in a school profession and one other nationwide championship look.
In April, she was the No. 1 general decide and virtually simply as she stepped on a WNBA court docket, the dialog started about whether or not her reputation was as a consequence of her race. In actual fact, it was a declare that WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson had made, saying Clark being White was a “large factor” when it got here to Clark’s reputation.
All through the season, although, Clark was in a position to block out the noise about what was mentioned about her off the court docket, even when it appeared like she was attacked on the court docket by her opponents. Laborious fouls got here amid allegations of racism from each Indiana Fever and Iowa followers, a declare made by the aforementioned Reese.
However Clark had repeated time and time once more that she was centered on basketball, and that certain appeared to be the case. In her rookie season, she not solely broke rookie data, even WNBA data now naked Clark’s identify.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts throughout a first-round WNBA basketball playoff sport in opposition to the Solar, Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Picture/Jessica Hill)
CAITLIN CLARK BACKLASH TO WHITE PRIVILEGE REMARKS PROVES THERE’S ‘ISSUES WITH RACE’ IN US, WNBA GREAT SAYS
Clark’s appearances in video games introduced historic viewership to each the faculty and professional ranges. The ultimate three video games of her school profession had been the most-watched ladies’s school basketball video games ever. She additionally had a number of of her regular-season video games draw extra viewers than WNBA playoff video games, and her WNBA matchups with Reese had been among the most-viewed WNBA video games ever.
WNBA groups even needed to transfer to bigger arenas merely due to the ticket demand Clark drew; the Fever offered 90 instances extra tickets this previous yr than in 2023.
Clark was named the Rookie of the 12 months for her historic marketing campaign throughout which she set the file for essentially the most assists in a single season in league historical past. She carried the Fever to a playoff look after a gradual begin, and he or she rapidly turned a double-double machine. She even set a single-game file with 19 assists. She additionally turned the primary rookie to file a triple-double, registering two of them.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever celebrates through the sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Sparks on Could 24, 2024, at Crypto.com Area in California. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE through Getty Photographs)
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She obtained essentially the most votes for the All-Star Recreation and was simply the fifth rookie in league historical past to make the All-WNBA first-team.Â
It ought to go with out saying that Clark is effectively on her approach to an illustrious profession, and much more spectacular is what she did this yr with all the surface noise.
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