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