Being the center of attention is nothing new to Caitlin Clark. During her time with the Iowa Hawkeyes, she was front page news every single day for another record she broke, a shot she made, or an otherworldly stat-line she put up.
After being selected as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, storylines and headlines were sure to follow and only increase. That has continued so far.
Caitlin Clark is headlining the Indiana Fever and WNBA training camp storylines. ESPN believes that a storyline to follow is how much impact Caitlin Clark can have in her rookie season and how fast she can begin having that impact.
How much impact will No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark have right away on the Fever’s scoring ability? Last season, Indiana was seventh in the league in scoring average (81.0 PPG) and sixth in offensive rating (103.0). Clark had one of the greatest offensive careers in college basketball history, with 3,951 points and 1,144 assists playing at a fast pace at Iowa. She will have even more accomplished targets to pass to now, led by 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, and no longer needs to be the leading scorer virtually every game.
The Fever were eighth in 3-pointers per game last season (8.5), and that number should go up with Clark, who had a record 548 3s in college. Clark was the primary ball handler all the time with the Hawkeyes, but she doesn’t have to carry that load the same way with Indiana. – Voepel, ESPN.
Caitlin Clark will be going from having to score, feed teammates, and get rebounds as she did at Iowa to more of a traditional guard role where she can score and find the right pass at the right time.
Where Clark brings a much-needed skillset is from behind the arc. The Fever need to improve their 3-point shooting and that is an area Clark can have an immediate impact on.
So, while the impact that Clark has on games is unlikely to measure up to what fans saw at Iowa, there are areas and a path for her to come in and improve the Fever from the very first day.
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