From being a senior in school and the star of the Iowa women’s basketball team that went to the nationwide championship, to then being drafted proper after and leaping into the WNBA season, quite a bit has occurred within the lifetime of Caitlin Clark up to now 12 months.
The Indiana Fever star was left off the Olympic ladies’s basketball roster this previous summer season, a call that sparked a variety of debate, however Clark mentioned the break in the course of the WNBA season because of the 2024 Paris Games was wanted.
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Caitlin Clark (AP Photo/Adam Hunger/File)
“We had the Olympic break, so I obtained a month off in the midst of the season as a result of we needed to pause the WNBA season as a result of, you recognize, the 12 ladies go and play within the Olympics. And all people else, you’re not doing a lot, so [I] obtained like a month off, which I actually wanted, clearly, as a result of I’ve been taking part in basketball for only a 12 months straight,” Clark mentioned throughout a current look on “New Heights.“
The Fever began out 1-8 however rallied to complete 20-20 to make the playoffs. An enormous cause for the Fever’s late-season push was the improved play of Clark after the break.
Prior to the Olympic break, she was averaging 17.1 factors per sport. Following the break, she seemed rejuvenated, averaging 23.1 factors per sport down the stretch.
Jason Kelce requested how Clark would outline her whirlwind of a 12 months in simply two phrases.
CAITLIN CLARK SAYS SHE FIRST STARTED RECEIVING COLLEGE RECRUITMENT LETTERS IN 7TH GRADE
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever poses for a photograph with Lin Dunn and Christie Sides throughout her introductory press convention on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE through Getty Images)
“I might say, like, I don’t know, life-changing perhaps? All in a great way, like, I imply, issues simply change actually quick, as you guys know. That’s simply how the world works and, particularly with social media, individuals see a variety of your life, however that’s what makes it enjoyable and why I’ve had so many cool alternatives, too. So, it’s loopy, like wanting again at a 12 months in the past in the present day or round this time, like, I used to be simply starting my senior 12 months in school,” Clark mentioned.
“And clearly, you recognize, individuals knew who we have been, and other people attended our video games, nevertheless it’s clearly not on the magnitude that it’s now. So, like, life simply adjustments quick, however that’s what makes it enjoyable and funky and, you recognize, shortly began a brand new chapter of my life, too. Like shifting right here to Indianapolis, and really feel fortunate I’m nonetheless within the Midwest. I do know you [Jason and Travis Kelce] just like the Midwest.”
Clark mentioned she is wanting ahead to with the ability to have extra of a routine in her second season with the Fever after the fast transition from college basketball within the WNBA.
HOW CAITLIN CLARK BATTLED THROUGH CULTURE WARS EN ROUTE TO HISTORIC 2024
Lisa Bluder and Caitlin Clark discuss throughout apply for the NCAA ladies’s school basketball championship sport between Iowa and South Carolina on April 6, 2024. (Zach Boyden-Holmes/USA TODAY NETWORK through Imagn Images)
“Yeah, for certain, I imply it’s simply so in contrast to another skilled sport, actually, from the standpoint of, so I performed within the nationwide championship, and I mainly went to the draft proper after, obtained picked, and then you definately mainly pack up and transfer. Like, you’re shifting in April, you don’t even end senior 12 months of school,” Clark mentioned.
“And I assume for you guys, what was it, you go to the [NFL] mix, how lengthy do you need to put together for the mix, two months? And then you definately get drafted, and you continue to obtained just a little time to get acclimated to the brand new metropolis, you’ve gotten camp, no matter. It’s not like that, like camp for us is sort of a week and a half.”
But Clark additionally mentioned there was a profit to issues shifting so shortly.
“I believe it was good just a little bit, too, such as you don’t have time to overthink issues, prefer it’s identical to, growth, growth, growth, growth, such as you’re simply onto the subsequent. But on the identical time, you don’t, like, I really feel like I by no means actually ended the chapter of school. It was identical to you up and left, however perhaps that’s good. You don’t have a variety of time to consider it, so I believe that’s undoubtedly the weirdest a part of, you recognize, ladies’s skilled basketball and clearly school basketball, too, is simply that change,” Clark mentioned.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever talks to the media throughout an introductory press convention on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE through Getty Images)
Despite the fast transition into the WNBA, Clark nonetheless excelled.
She received the WNBA Rookie of the Year, was named an All-Star and led the WNBA in assists whereas additionally setting a document for many assists in a season with 337.
Clark set the rookie document for many complete factors scored in a season with 769, and she or he drained 122 3-pointers in her season, which is the second most in a single season in WNBA historical past.
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