Caitlin Clark is an Icon
What could I say about Caitlin Clark that has yet to be said? To be honest, probably nothing. Clark was this year's number-one overall pick in the WNBA draft. She is the all-time best scorer in College basketball history and the best three-point shooter. She has countless other accolades from her time as an Iowa Hawkeye, including having her number 22 retired by the college. I am not writing about Clark to convince you she is good because she's done that enough herself. I will not talk about how much different the WNBA will be for her than college was because that's been said before. I'm writing about Caitlin Clark because she inspired me to write again.
This is not a story about statistics or analysis of them; it is about Clark and her ability to transcend sports with her basketball ability. I have not been a women's basketball fan for too long; I've only been following the sport for about two weeks, to be honest. Caitlin Clark got me interested in women's basketball. Clark's ability to go from baseline to baseline with the basketball and score, her ability to pull up from the logo and land monstrous three-pointers, her behind-the-back passes, and every other facet of her game has made me a fan.
With every athlete, there will be comparisons to others who came before them. In baseball, Shohei Ohtani is compared to Babe Ruth; in hockey, Connor McDavid is compared to Wayne Gretzky; and Clark has been compared to Stephen Curry. Clark and Curry may be completely different genders, but their ability to change the game of basketball cannot be understated. When Stephen Curry began his meteoric rise with the Golden State Warriors, he began changing the game of basketball on both the men's and women's sides. The game of basketball will never be the same because of Steph Curry, due to his ability to shoot from, and be a threat from anywhere on the basketball court. That is what Caitlin Clark can do, too. If Clark is open and holding the basketball, then there is a good chance she will shoot and score. Her highlight tapes are filled with shots from just beyond the half-court marker.
Caitlin Clark has begun her WNBA career and is off to a fantastic start, averaging 17 points, four rebounds, and five and a half assists per game. She is not putting up 30 and 40-point games yet, but I don't know if anybody would have logically thought she would be doing that so quickly in her career. Like almost any athlete going from college to the pros, there will be an adjustment period, and it's incredible that in Clark's adjustment period, she is scoring 17 points per game, which is suitable for fifteenth in the league.
Caitlin Clark will be just as big a star in the WNBA as she was in college, maybe an even bigger one. She draws sellout crowds to her games and simultaneously breaks ESPN viewing records. It is clear that Caitlin Clark is a force to be reckoned with, and she likely will be for a while.
