Caitlin Clark has gotten some time to reflect on her historic WNBA season and the positive affect her presence and those of an historic rookie crop made on the league.
Nothing was given to Clark, who battled through all of the social media noise and the flagrant fouls against her and the emotional moments that rookies fight through on their way to veteran status.
A few weeks ago in Indianapolis, “60 Minutes” sat down with Clark and asked her to pinpoint the “signature moment” of this signature rookie season. One that rivals Candace Parker’s 2008 entrance, where she won Rookie of the Year and MVP with the LA Sparks.
Jonquel Jones Breaks Caitlin Clark’s Eardrum Setting A Pick On June 2
Of all of the shining moments that led to the Indiana Fever making the playoffs for the first time sine 2016, Clark remembers her eardrum getting ruptured during a game against the WNBA title favorite New York Liberty on June 2.
It’s a moment that resonates with the WNBA 2024 Rookie of the Year, because it was that true “welcome to the league, rook” moment, as Clark described it.
“I remember when we were in New York and (Liberty big) Jonquel Jones set a really good screen on me. It actually popped my eardrum, just on the screen. It was a really good screen for JJ. She’s a tremendous player, but I think that just speaks to physicality of the league that she got me in the right spot.”
Clark said she has plenty of signature moments but that’s the one she will probably remember above all.
She’s taken her fair share of bumps and bruises this season and rolled with the punches like a champion, but rupturing your eardrum for the first time and having to go back on the court and battle is elevation that can’t be taught or predicted.
Those are the kinds of revelations fans want to hear after a season where social media noise often overshadowed the athletic brilliance and toughness that we were witnessing from the 144 players in the WNBA.
Clark’s Indiana Fever games attracted fans from as far away as Canada. Once the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship outdrew the men’s for the first tiem in history, it was only inevtable that when Clark and Angel Reese brought their rivalry into the WNBA, leaguewide attendance would experience this 48 percent boost.
Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier dropped 80 points in her first two playoff games this season after winning the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. She’s one of the undeniable stars of the game.
She was drafted in 2018, and her career bridges the pre-Clark WNBA with this new post-Clark WNBA, where engagement is up 150 percent and 5-star hotel stays and individual rooms are the norm.
When asked what the biggest difference is the former UConn star said, “People, which is what we want. It makes the game so much fun. (the crowd) is like your sixth man when you’re at home and when you’re away you can’t wait to silence the crowd and that’s the best feeling ever.”
Collier gave the ultimate props to the rookie class of Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson.
“They don’t act like rookies,” Collier told “60 Minutes.”
The WNBA is coming, and it’s known for its physical play and school of hard knocks. The media rights deal give the league an extra $200 million per season to play with for the next decade and the league is expanding from 12 teams to 16, with the one in Portland set to launch in 2025.
They have chartered flights and an incredible future with other college stars who are building household names on the court and online, prior to entering the NBA, such as Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins.
Despite Clark mania, WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert made it a point to ackowledge the other rookies’ impact as well as Clark’s.
”No league is ever about one player,” Engelbert said, while crediting Clark and Reese for creating the compelling narratives that rivals create and is needed for a league to grow.
It takes a league, but you can’t say Clark hasn’t carried the biggest burden this season. She took her bumps and bruises, ruptured records and even an eardrum along the way.
