Tag: Indiana Fever

Caitlin Clark easily dodged 4 defenders to score during Indiana Fever preseason home debut

Caitlin Clark is already frustrating WNBA defenders.

It’s safe to say that Caitlin Clark is already starting to frustrate WNBA defenders, and it’s only the preseason.

On Thursday, Clark and the Indiana Fever faced the Atlanta Dream in the second game of the WNBA preseason. After scoring a team-leading 21 points in the Fever’s preseason loss to the Dallas Wings, Clark was right back at it in front of home Indiana fans for the first time.

MORE: Brittney Griner has important advice for Caitlin Clark on what to expect on the WNBA transition.

Late in the first quarter of Thursday’s game — in what is sure to be the first of many highlights — Clark blitzed past not one but four Dream defenders before downing a lay up that looked so easy.

Caitlin Clark comments on WNBA’s new charter flights program

Caitlin Clark commented on the WNBA beginning its charter flights program.

One of the most overdue changes is finally coming to the WNBA. The league’s commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the league plans to start their charter flights program.

For years now, the WNBA players have had to endure the usual struggles that we all go through with commercial flights. Cramped seating, long layovers, and early mornings were the standard for these world-class athletes. The process has caused a ton of wear and tear on the athletes throughout the season, athletes who were punished for even chartering flights.

It’s a new era in the WNBA, the Caitlin Clark era. With the influx of talent and interest in the sport, the league is in investing in their talent. Engelbert said that the league will launch the program “as soon as we can get planes in places.” The venture will cost the WNBA around $25 million per season.

Clark, the Indiana Fever’s new superstar and the recent No. 1 overall draft pick, commented on the move by the WNBA.

“I’m thankful at whatever point that happens, that would be great for us. It will make recovery easier, it will make travel easier. It just makes life a lot easier for a lot of people, but also it’s just something a lot of people have deserved for years and years,” Clark said.

A few weeks prior, Engelbert stated that the league allocated $3 million to fund charter flights for back-to-back games and playoffs, but stopped short of fully funding charter flights for the season. Since then, stories have gone viral showing players like Caitlin Clark waiting for their bags at the commercial carousel in Dallas. Players have long complained about the travel, citing player safety concerns.

For the league, this is the right play. It should have been done before, because the WNBA didn’t just suddenly have an influx of money, but now is the time to have charter flights.

They have a star in the making in Cailtin Clark who they are investing heavily in. As more and more fans tune into the WNBA and become Clark fans and fans of the league in general, they certainly aren’t going to want to see their favorite players waiting for their baggage at the airport next to them. If the league truly wants legitimacy, then this is a great first step.

“Our league is growing, the demand for women’s basketball is growing,” Women’s National Basketball Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike said. “That means more eyes on us, which is what we want, but that means more protection from the organization that we play for, the whole W that we play for.

“Chartering flights not only is a safety measure, the biggest thing, and then obviously what it means to be able to play a game and go home and rest and recover and be the elite athletes that we try to be every single night when we step out onto this court. It’s a great day for our league as a whole that we are able to get here and we’re going to continue to grow and continue to build and continue to push for even better.”

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Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut set to be first live sports event to air on Disney+

Caitlin Clark continues to break the mold. Her debut, streaming on Disney+, is set to be the first live sports event to air on the platform.

Caitlin Clark is changing the way things are done. She had the Iowa Hawkeyes getting primetime treatment and national coverage during her final two years. She is bringing the same, and likely many more, sets of eyeballs to her WNBA games.

The Indiana Fever open up their season next Tuesday, May 14th, against the Connecticut Sun. The game is going to be available on ESPN2 and ESPN+. It has just been announced that the game is also going to be streaming on Disney+, which will be the first live sporting event on the platform.

Alex Werpin of Hollywood Reporter reported that this is going to be a full broadcast that will include studio productions and the full nine yards.

The WNBA games will be the full, studio productions, not animated simulcasts. And given the hype and interest Clark is bringing to the league, it may deliver big numbers.

Clark delivered record-shattering numbers in this year’s NCAA woman’s basketball tournament, with the final delivering nearly 18.9 million people. Surely ESPN, Prime Video and CBS Sports want to keep that momentum going, and Disney+ is a way to do that with younger fans. – Werpin, Hollywood Reporter

Caitlin Clark is among a fan-favorite already and has grown an especially large fanbase among the youth due to her patience and willingness to sign thousands upon thousands of jersey for what seems like an endless amount of time.

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever debut on Tuesday, May 14 with a road trip to Mohegan Sun Arena to take on the Connecticut Sun at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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Brittney Griner has important advice for Caitlin Clark on what to expect on the WNBA transition

Griner noted what’s different in the WNBA than college as Caitlin Clark prepares for her first season.

Brittney Griner has some advice for Caitlin Clark as the Indiana Fever superstar starts her first season in the WNBA: it may take some time to adjust.

Given what we saw out of Clark in her first preseason game with the Fever — which included that moment when she dropped fellow Dallas Wings rookie Jacy Sheldon — maybe we’d expect her to be a superstar right away.

But as Griner told People, the WNBA isn’t college hoops: “It’s different, when you come from college to the pros,” she told the magazine. “I went from top dog to my numbers going down a bit. You’re going up against grown women. This is how they feed their families. This is not just for the love of the [game]. This is their livelihood.”

Well said!

Caitlin Clark helps Indiana Fever climb in ESPN’s preseason WNBA power rankings

Caitlin Clark’s presence is already helping the Indiana Fever climb ESPN’s WNBA power rankings.

Caitlin Clark has already made her presence felt in the WNBA. Everyone knows the attraction that she is with fans and to ticket offices selling out arenas. But, she is there to win games and get a championship. That impact is also palpable.

In her first WNBA preseason action, Clark led the Indiana Fever with 21 points and looked in full control. She is uniting with Aliyah Boston to form a formidable duo that can run the court. The two of them are eyeing a trip to the WNBA playoffs, somewhere the Fever haven’t been in a while.

The Fever are seeing a boost in the power rankings from the arrival of Clark as well. After finishing last season at No. 10 out of 12 teams in ESPN’s power rankings, the Fever have already made a climb. In ESPN’s WNBA power rankings, the Fever have jumped up to No. 8.

Will this be the season the Fever make it back to the playoffs? That’s the primary goal for Indiana after adding Caitlin Clark to go along with last year’s No. 1 pick, forward Aliyah Boston, and 2022’s No. 2 selection, forward NaLyssa Smith. Clark had 21 points in the Fever’s exhibition opener and looked comfortable in her first pro appearance. The developing chemistry between her and the young posts is something to watch, and there will be a lot of excitement around the Fever in general. – Michael Voepel, ESPN

One week away from the regular season beginning, Clark and Co. are setting their targets on the playoffs in a year that is going to be followed under a microscope.

Despite all of the pressure, the attention, and the spotlight, Caitlin Clark is prepared for this and has endured it the last two seasons when she was with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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Indiana Fever welcome in the Caitlin Clark era with preseason sellout at Dallas Wings

First WNBA action? Another Caitlin Clark sellout.

WNBA fans, the Caitlin Clark era has arrived. Whether or not she will be a player great enough to define her own era of women’s professional basketball is yet to be seen. What we do know is that the WNBA now has a draw, unlike anything the league has ever seen before.

Caitlin Clark made her professional debut in front of a sold-out crowd in Dallas on Friday. Despite it being a preseason game that did not count towards the actual league standings, Caitlin Clark once again helped generate a sellout crowd on the road in Texas. All 6,251 seats were filled, an increase from Dallas’ average attendance last year of 4,641 per game.

Though her team lost 79-76 to the Wings, Clark showed everyone in attendance and watching at home why she was the easy No. 1 overall pick. Clark’s 21 points were tied for the top scorer in the game alongside fellow rookie Jaelyn Brown. She added three rebounds and two assists to go with her two steals.

It wasn’t completely perfect, but there was a lot to be excited about in Caitlin Clark’s debut game. The supreme shot creation that helped her become the all-time Division I scoring leader at Iowa looks like it will definitely translate to the WNBA. Clark is already making tough threes before the regular season begins.

Clark didn’t have the assist totals that she had at Iowa, but considering she just legitimately joined the team a few weeks ago, it’s going to take some time before she really gets on the same page with her new teammates. She also has to learn a new system for the first time since she was a freshman at Iowa, too.

What will be interesting to see is how Clark molds her style to the talent around her. She is now surrounded by professional athletes. The best of the best are in the WNBA, and she has some teammates who can really score in Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell.

Clark more than likely won’t have to completely take over and go on streaks where she takes every shot for the Fever. However, with her competitive spirit and superb talent, she still has the ability to take over games when needed.

How the Fever start to mesh together as a team and mold a particular play style will be interesting to watch in Indiana’s final preseason game next Thursday and into the regular season.

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A New Era: A look at Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA action with the Indiana Fever

Caitlin Clark put on a show in her first preseason game with the Fever. Take a look at some of the best shots of the action.

Some said she couldn’t do it. Some said her game wouldn’t translate. Some said she will have to adjust.

Caitlin Clark didn’t hear any of it. The Iowa Hawkeyes’ legend turned Indiana Fever star simply stepped into the WNBA and showed everyone it is a new era of women’s basketball.

Clark played 28 minutes Friday night in the Indiana Fever’s first preseason game, but she scored a team-high 21 points with five 3-pointers. She had her usual step back working, her catch and shoot was flawless and she played confidently.

The star is here to stay and she made a very loud and clear statement in her first action. She can’t just transition to the pro game, she appears ready to take over the pro game.

Take a look at some of the best shots of Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA action.

This Caitlin Clark photo of her dropping Jacy Sheldon is just perfect

What a shot!

It was one of the multiple jaw-dropping plays from Caitlin Clark in her preseason WNBA debut for the Indiana Fever: the rookie guard got defended by fellow first-year player Jacy Sheldon at the three point line.

But as Clark made it seem like she was going to drive to the hoop, she stopped and maybe got a shoulder or a hand on Sheldon, who fell to the court and might have been looking for a call that wasn’t there. Clark stepped back and calmly nailed a three.

The photo of Sheldon in midair was captured by Gregory Shamus and WOW it’s perfect:

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Here’s the play:

Arike Ogunbowale spoils Caitlin Clark’s WNBA preseason debut

Caitlin is the future, but Arike remains the present.

It being the preseason, this game won’t count for the WNBA records. But this game between the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever provided fans their first glance into Caitlin Clark’s professional career. Clark didn’t disappoint, leading all scorers with 21 points.

But [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] has become a star in her own right with the Wings since her days at Notre Dame. Irish fans know she’s no stranger to last-second heroics, and she demonstrated that at the end of this game. She broke a 76-all tie by hitting a stepback 3-pointer with three seconds left, giving the Wings a 79-76 win:

Ogunbowale was the Wings’ second-leading scorer in this game with 19 points. She is coming off her third straight All-Star season in which she averaged 21.7 points a game and career highs of 3.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.7 steals a game. She is entering her sixth season with the Wings, and it appears she’ll be playing at a high level again. Stay tuned.

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Caitlin Clark’s first preseason WNBA bucket was — what else? — a 3 from super deep

Caitlin Clark is already doing amazing things in the WNBA and it’s not even the regular season yet.

It was just a month ago that we were all in awe of Caitlin Clark as she made a run with Iowa to the women’s NCAA tournament final.

Now, we get to do it all over again in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever, who played their first preseason game of the season against the Dallas Wings. As of writing this, Clark already had three three-pointers in the first quarter, and the first bucket she tossed in was a sign of things to come … and what we’ve seen so many times before: a play off the inbounds that freed her up to hit a trey from DEEP:

Then, she did this:

And this:

Yep, I think she’s going to do just fine in the W.