The Caitlin Clark fever has reached the WNBA — officially. That's after the Indiana Fever selected the former Iowa Hawkeyes scoring machine first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft Monday night. While Clark has yet to play a single second in a WNBA game, her impact on Indiana is already being felt, at least off the court — and on the betting boards.
Fever's WNBA championship odds after drafting Caitlin Clark
At the moment, the Fever have the fifth-shortest odds to win the 2024 WNBA championship, as they carry a price of +2000 to do it over at FanDuel sportsbook. That shows how much the public is expecting the Fever to do way better than the team did in the 2023 WNBA campaign when Indiana finished with just a 13-27 record — the third-worst in the entire league.
Unsurprisingly, reigning WNBA champions Las Vegas Aces have the shortest odds to win it all this year, as they are given a price of +100 to repeat. Meanwhile, the New York Liberty, who lost in four games to the Aces in the 2023 WNBA Finals, are +230 to get the job done this time. The Seattle Storm own the third-best odds at +1000, while the Connecticut Suns are labeled +1200.
Even casual basketball and WNBA fans know who Caitlin Clark is, as she's become a household name thanks to her electrifying four-year stint with the Iowa Hawkeyes in college. During her memorable college career, Clark managed to average 28.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 8.2 assists across 139 games while posting a 56.0 effective field goal percentage. Her fame and, of course, great basketball abilities are among the chief reasons behind the massive hype surrounding the Fever right now.
That is not to mention that the Fever have also succeeded in their apparent draft mission to pair one Naismith College Player of the Year with another. With Clark in Indiana's fold, the Fever have her paired up with another hotshot in Aliyah Boston, who used to be Clark's rival back in college. Boston played for the South Carolina Gamecocks, who got eliminated by Clark's Hawkeyes in the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks got their revenge a year later when they defeated the Gamecocks in the championship game of the 2024 March Madness, but without Boston, who was selected first overall by the Fever in the 2023 WNBA Draft.
And now, Clark and Boston will have to work together, as they look to help Indiana break its lengthy playoff drought.
The last time the Fever appeared in the playoffs was way back in 2016 when Clark was still four years away from making her debut for the Hawkeyes.
Indiana is coming off another letdown season, which explains largely why the Fever had the top pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. In the 2023 campaign, the Fever went just 13-27, a record that was just good enough to finish third last in the entire league. Still, that was a significant improvement for the Fever, who, in the three seasons before drafting Boston cobbled up just a total of 17 victories against 73 losses.
As badly as last season went for the Fever, they have a great reason to believe in their future with Clark and Boston leading the youth movement in Indiana. Clark still has to prove she can be just as effective in the pros as she was in college, but in any case, the hope is certainly there among Fever fans,
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