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Credit: Timothy R. Butler/Nano Banana Pro
Credit: Timothy R. Butler/Nano Banana Pro

Caitlin Clark Is Back In A Big Way

By Jason Kettinger | Posted at 3:10 PM

The basketball megastar has now played 70 games. She now holds the record—all-time—for 20+ point, 10 assist games with 14, over all-time WNBA assist leader Courtney Vandersloot.

Four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson currently has a points per game (ppg) of nearly 21.7, the highest in history. If Clark’s career totals held—to say nothing of an increase—until she qualifies on these rate charts, she’d beat Wilson’s rate by nearly 3 ppg.

The recognized GOAT—let the reader understand—Diana Taurasi, finished with a ppg rate of 18.8. Taurasi could literally play any position on the floor, so it will be difficult for Clark to increase her rebounds per game (5) but Clark dwarfs Taurasi (so far) in every category.

There are injury concerns with Clark. She missed most of last season with a quad strain, and she missed the game on May 20th with back spasms. But the fans, casual and otherwise, know they haven’t seen anything like this before. The staggering growth of the WNBA since Clark’s arrival in 2024, as evidenced by a new collective bargaining agreement that pays a supermax salary of 1.4 M—Caitlin’s admittedly superfluous salary is 75K—really is backed up by her numbers.

There is of course debate and criticism of Clark as one who shoots too much and unsuccessfully, and that she turns the ball over. But the counterpoint of the turnover is the assist—indeed, the assist to turnover ratio is a common stat to measure point guards like Clark—but she’s going to be the WNBA assist leader all-time in a few years.

In the end, I think this moment in history corresponds to say, 1986 for a young shooting guard named Michael Jordan. He still had respect to earn, and championships to win. But the fans knew what they saw, and the branding and global impact followed. More than this, Clark isn’t really actively disliked by her peers. Very few would even assert it. It’ll be a shorter, easier trip to icon status than Jordan had.

Every single Fever game is on national television, so you should try to catch a game soon. She’s not just the MJ of women’s basketball; she might be a Gretzky or Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.

Jason Kettinger is Associate Editor of Open for Business. He writes on politics, sports, faith and more.

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