On Friday night, the Indiana Fever had their first game back from the prolonged WNBA intermission due to the 2024 Paris Olympics. What that entailed is another sell-out game for the Fever, thanks in large part to Caitlin Clark's sweeping influence that continues to envelope the nation.
Clark, despite being in her rookie year, continues to improve from game to game, and on Friday, there was a sort of changing of the guard that occurred as she outdueled future Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi in a 98-89 win over the Phoenix Mercury. The 22-year-old guard put up 29 points and 10 assists on 8-16 shooting from the field and 9-10 shooting from the line, making up for her 4-11 night from beyond the arc.
Caitlin Clark is changing the Fever's fortunes as the game-changing prospect that was promised for the team after a few years of dwelling in the basement of the WNBA. As a fellow star for Indianapolis hoops, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton wants the entire basketball world to take notice of how great Clark has been in her first professional season.
“Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge,” Haliburton wrote on his official X account.
Indeed, Clark has made good on the hype she generated throughout her four illustrious years playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes. She continues to put up buckets, which is characteristic of her given that she finished her collegiate career as the all-time leader in points scored in both the men's and women's game combined.
The Fever have also been reaping the benefits of Clark's greatness; they may have begun the 2024 WNBA season on a rough note, but here they are now, in seventh place in the league — in position to make the postseason if the season were to end tonight.
It's rare for any professional athlete to be as ballyhooed as Clark is and somehow surpass all the lofty expectations of her still. And everyone better keep tabs on what she's doing for the Fever, as Tyrese Haliburton said.
Caitlin Clark and Tyrese Haliburton — changing Indiana hoops
Entering the 2020s decade, professional basketball in the state of Indiana wasn't exactly at its best. The Pacers missed the playoffs from 2021 to 2023, while the Fever continued their terrible run of form that dates back to 2017. From 2017 to 2023, the Fever won just 58 of their 232 games for an exact win rate of 25 percent. Suffice to say, that is terrible.
But even with a ton of high draft picks, the Fever struggled to turn things around. They missed out on a few first overall picks (the Las Vegas Aces' draft lottery luck must be examined); they picked second during the A'ja Wilson draft and then in 2019, they selected Teaira McCowan with the third overall pick, missing out on Arike Ogunbowale and Napheesa Collier. And then in 2020, they picked third in a draft with two stellar prospects in Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally.
Finally, the Fever have their franchise cornerstone in Caitlin Clark, giving a team with solid players such as Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell a transcendent talent to steer the ship. Clark is much like Tyrese Haliburton; Haliburton has become a full-fledged star for the Pacers, and these two nightly 20-10 threats with unlimited range from deep are looking to lead their respective Indiana basketball teams to great heights — and given the talent they possess, they are more than capable of doing so.
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