Hey y’all! It’s Ian.
On Thursday, Caitlin Clark declared her intention to leave Iowa and head to the WNBA. She’ll leave Iowa City as unquestionably, their greatest player ever, and one of the greatest in WCBB1 history2. Although she never delivered the Black and Yellow a title, she started every game she ever played in, averaged at least 26 ppg (and led the country in scoring) every year, shot and made a million logo threes, and quietly got much, much better on defense (going from a 112 defensive rating as a freshman to an 89.4 as a senior). Her total record in college? 100-29. And, I mean, look at this resume.
Now here’s the problem. Clark’s gonna be the #1 pick (unless Cameron Brink is exposed to radioactive material and turns into The Incredible Hulk). The Indiana Fever have the #1 overall pick, because they went 13-27 during the regular season and won the lottery. But, they won the #1 overall pick last year, and they took Aliyah Boston. Aliyah Boston, who’s also one of the greatest college players ever, Aliyah Boston, who was an All-Star as a rookie, Aliyah Boston, who had one of the best rookie seasons ever, Aliyah Boston, WHO GOT MVP VOTES AS A ROOKIE.
So do you think that the Fever might just be slightly better next year?
Plus, it’s not like Aliyah Boston was completely alone on the Fever. The cool thing about the WNBA is that there are only 12 teams. Imagine what would happen if you cut the amount of NBA teams in half, then took only the best players in the NBA and used them to fill out those teams. Wouldn’t every team have at least 2-3 All-Star caliber players? Of course.
Welcome to the WNBA.3
Along with Aliyah Boston, the Indiana Fever sport a suprisingly talented (albeit top-loaded) roster for a team that went 13-27. It includes 2023 All-Star Kelsey Mitchell (a 40% sniper from distance), 23-year old Nalyssa Smith (15.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg last year), an aging but still useful 3x All-Star Danielle Robinson, glue guy (glue girl?) Katie Lou Samelson, and 10 ppg scorer Erica Wheeler. Plus, the vibes are there - Smith (left) and Boston (right) have two of the coolest hairstyles in the W.
Obviously, it’s not over for the WNBA. We don’t know if Caitlin Clark will even be good, for one (although, I mean, c’mon). And no matter how good Clark is, a rookie and a second-year player aren’t going to lead the Fever past A’ja Wilson and the defending-champion Aces or Breanna Stewart and the Liberty (or even the Sun, led by Alyssa Thomas, the Nikola Jokic of the W). But still, the Fever are going to be good. Really, really good.
And for a fan of one of the W’s mid-tier teams (the Atlanta Dream), I mean, we (as in the rest of the league) could barely deal with the Big Two as it was. For Dallas, Washington, Minnesota, Atlanta, and now Phoenix and Seattle, we need to rally together. I’m not sure the W can handle another superteam.
On one hand, I can’t wait to see what Caitlin Clark does for the WNBA. There’s a super-toxic stigma around the WNBA that prevents a lot of fans from buying in. There used to be that same stigma around the college game, until Clark helped break it with her logo threes and 40 point triple-doubles and flashy passes and insane run in the Big Dance and savage celebrations.
She already has legitimized the Fever even before she was drafted, says The Guardian.
“We’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm online and on social media,” Pacers Sports and Entertainment said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The organization has also seen the enthusiasm lead to a spike in ticket inquiries.”
The Fever wouldn’t disclose how many tickets they’ve sold. Still, getting Iowa star Clark with the No 1 overall pick in the draft would be a boost to the franchise, which was second-to-last in attendance last season, averaging 4,067 fans at home games.
“It’s Clarkonomics,” basketball analyst Deb Antonelli said. “Her ability to move the meter and the excitement around her is incredible. The socially acceptable thing to do is to watch Caitlin Clark play basketball.”
And if she can do that in, like, a week, what can she do for total attendance and popularity for the WNBA when she actually is there?
But on the other hand, I’m scared, y’all. Like, really scared. It might not be this upcoming season, it might not be the season after that, but at some point, we’ll all look up and beg the basketball gods to save us from the pony-tailed messiah.
Thanks for having me, it’s been a blast.
-Ian
Women’s College Basketball.
She is probably in the top 10, but her lack of a ring, let alone two or three is hurting her. My top five:
Breanna Stewart - I mean, come on. Four years, four rings, four tournament MVPs. Need I say more?
Chamique Holdsclaw - There’s a reason SLAM put her on the cover in a Knicks jersey - she was that good. An all-around forward, she averaged 20, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in college and led Tennessee to three straight championships.
Cheryl Miller - Reggie Miller’s sister was a better player than he ever was, and she had the afro to back it up. Also one year she averaged 16 rebounds a game and she was 6’2.
Candace Parker - She may be the only player here who didn’t play all four years, but she didn’t need them. Two rings, two tournament MVPs, two SEC POYs, 20/9/2 steals/2.5 blocks for her career.
Brittney Griner - She may not have the hardware that Diana Taurasi has, but from 2011 to 2013 she was the most dominant player women’s basketball has ever seen.
There’s that famous clip that everyone loves to take out of context of Skylar Diggins-Smith saying the WNBA is “the most competitive league in the world”. In every “WNBA Worst Moments 😂😂😂” video you find on YouTube, this is always one of the moments. But it’s true. There are only 144 spots in the league, and often less than that BECAUSE THE SALARY CAP IS ONLY 1.5 MILLION (so teams have to save money and sign less players). It’s so much harder to make the WNBA, meaning the players that make the league are the very best of the best.
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