2024 WNBA mock draft roundup for Iowa Hawkeyes point guard Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark has wasted no time picking up where she left off last season. She has the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team out to an 11-1 start. She is averaging 29.5 points per game, 7.4 assists and 6.9 rebounds, while shooting 46.8% from the field.
While Clark does have the option to return to school next season for another year of making records entirely untouchable and cementing her legacy as the greatest collegiate women’s basketball player of all time, she also may not ever have a higher draft stock than she does right now. She is a consensus No. 1 overall pick among some of the biggest outlets.
Could she come back to become Iowa’s biggest legend ever and make another run at a national title? Capitalize on NIL money? Or does she make the move to the WNBA?
A move to the WNBA would almost certainly see her joining the Indiana Fever as a top lottery pick in the next draft. Should Clark declare, here is a mock draft roundup of where she would go and why.
ESPN
Draft selection: No. 1 to the Indiana Fever
The pro game often brings together players who have previously crossed paths as opponents. In this case, Clark’s Hawkeyes handed Boston’s Gamecocks their lone defeat last season, which came in the national semifinals. If they are teammates, Clark and Boston will get past that quickly and concentrate on bringing the Fever back to postseason relevance again. Clark is averaging 29.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists. (Could return to college for 2024-25). – Michael Voepel, ESPN
Caitlin Clark paired up with Aliyah Boston sets the stage for must-see TV when they take the court together. The two are two of the most talented women’s basketball players in years and combined, they could complement each other exceptionally well.
Sporting News
Draft selection: No. 1 to the Indiana Fever
If Clark enters the 2024 WNBA Draft, there’s little doubt that she’ll go first overall. She’s arguably the best player in women’s college basketball right now, leading the country in scoring with 29.0 points per game. And yet, she’s still third nationally with 7.9 assists per game. Clark can truly do it all. A young yet talented team like the Fever (who picked WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston at No. 1 overall a year ago) will only benefit from the Hawkeyes superstar, who isn’t just simply good, she makes those around her better, too. – Emily Dozier, Sporting News
As Sporting News said, Caitlin Clark elevates everyone around her. She can score and does so very well, but she also creates open shots and finds ways to get her teammates involved in ways that make the offense nearly impossible to defend.
Windsidr
Draft selection: No. 1 to the Indiana Fever
Caitlin Clark is the 2023 Aliyah Boston—a no-brainer, first-overall pick. There isn’t much that Clark doesn’t do exceptionally well on the offensive end. In her phenomenal 2022-2023 season, Clark was sixth overall in adjusted+ rating, an offensive and defensive rating metric that accounts for strength of schedule, and first among pure point guards. Clark was also second overall in RAPM, a metric that measures the plus-minus of each player above the Division I average, and again, first among her positional group. She was also first in her group in assist percentage (first overall as well), two-point percentage, and at-the-rim percentage. – Matt Cohen, Winsidr
What doesn’t Caitlin Clark do? She scores, she passes, and she moves well without the ball. She is a complete player. Turn the card in with Caitlin Clark’s name on it and don’t think twice.
The Athletic (subscription required)
Draft selection: No. 1 to the Indiana Fever
This is the easiest decision in the entire draft. Clark is a superlative offensive engine, one of the greatest ever seen in college basketball. She pours on points in a hurry and not just with her logo range; Clark doesn’t shy away from contact in the paint and her midrange shooting gets better every season. She’s one of only 15 players in Division I history to score 3,000 points, and she has a realistic chance of breaking Kelsey Plum’s scoring record this season, in addition to chasing Pete Maravich’s all-time record for men or women. – Sabreena Merchant, the Athletic
It doesn’t get much more clear cut than drafting Caitlin Clark first overall. She could end up being the all-time women’s college basketball scoring record holder when all is said and done. She is an instant boost offensively.
Takeaways
Can anyone catch her or overtake her at the No. 1 draft spot?
UConn’s Paige Bueckers is right behind Clark, but it may take a Herculean effort to surpass her. Caitlin Clark already has so much film, talent, and production that anyone else going No. 1 overall may be unrealistic.
At this point, Clark has positioned herself in the camp of when she goes first overall, not if. Whenever that may be.
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