There seems to be no doubt at this moment that when the WNBA draft gets underway, the Indiana Fever have the easiest decision with their No. 1 overall pick as it should be Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark. After a legendary college basketball career, she will be making her way to the professionals and she is already getting a lot of praise from people in the league.
While her collegiate run ended in disappointment as the Hawkeyes lost to South Carolina in the national championship game, Clark's legacy has already been cemented as an all-time women's basketball player. General managers around the WNBA obviously see that and her immense talent and in an interview with The Athletic, one executive who remained anonymous said that they would “trade my whole team for her.”
“I would trade my whole team for her,” the unnamed WNBA general manager said about Clark. “Partly because our owner would do it to sell tickets. But on top of that, that’s such a great piece to start to build around. She’s (like Diana) Taurasi coming out, and look what Taurasi’s done.”
Fever already selling more tickets and Clark isn't on team
It's a very interesting comment from the general manager as besides how excellent of a basketball player Clark has been, they mentioned how the owner of the team would “do it to sell tickets.” That is already starting to work out for the Fever as tickets to see the star has already risen in price as according to StubHub, the team is “up more than 13 times as of Thursday compared to this same time last year.”
This is definitely unheard of in terms of a team selling a boatload of tickets for a player that has not even been drafted yet, but her pull and popularity have been out of this world. Besides the WNBA, people were already flocking to see her play with the Iowa women's basketball team as ratings and tickets for their run in March Madness, especially in the final few games soared to new heights for the sport.
Clark driving in revenue for Fever and ticket websites
It's easy to see why a general manager would want to trade their whole team away for a prospect like Clark as not only is she a player that can result in a massive amount of success to the team, but bring great business along with it. Chris Leyden, director of growth marketing at SeatGeek, a website where fans could buy tickets, talked about the spike in tickets sold for the Indiana Fever and said that is the “most significant example I can think of on the women's side” according to ESPN.
“This is definitely the most significant example I can think of on the women's side,” Leyden said. “Three things drive demand for tickets. It's one, how popular the team is overall … Two, it's how good the team is. Winning teams always drive up demand. Three, to me, is the star player factor. And this just absolutely checks the box.”
With this now increasing popularity that Clark is sure to bring to the WNBA, there also seems to align with the league's next media deal. As the NBA is in the same talks, commissioner Adam Silver said that there is “enormous interest” in the “growth of the WNBA.”
“There’s no doubt, I think, especially over enormous interest, most recently around women’s college basketball and the growth in the WNBA over the last few years that the interest is heightened from where it used to be,” Silver said per The Athletic.
WNBA coaches chime in on Clark and her ability to play professionally
Back to her actual performances in the game, she averaged 31.6 points, 8.9 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45.5 percent from the field last season with the Hawkeyes. She also set the NCAA record in men's and women's basketball with most points scored, passing “Pistol” Pete Maravich. Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon gave her thoughts on Clark and said that “she is an incredible talent.”
“Caitlin is going to be Caitlin Clark,” Weatherspoon, who also played in the WNBA and coached in the NBA, said. “She is an incredible talent, going to do amazing things in the WNBA. And it does an incredible thing for us, for the WNBA because of the fan base that follows along with her.”
Clark might need time to adjust to WNBA
While it might be a given that when Clark makes her debut in the professionals, she is expected to be amazing right from the jump, not so fast on that thinking. However, especially not to the eyes of another former first overall pick and WNBA great Diana Taurasi where she said Clark will need time to adjust, especially since there is only about one month that separates the draft from the start of the new season.
“It’s a different game, there’s an adjustment period, there’s a period of grace that you have to give rookies when they get to the league,” Taurasi said. “We’ve had some of the greats to ever play basketball, and it takes two or three years to get used to a different game (against) the best players in the world. As long as everyone has expectations that are realistic, they should be fine.”
At the end of the day however, Clark is quite possibly at the top of the greatest prospects for women's basketball and is no doubt to be the first pick in an already stacked draft class with Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and others. She has definitely caught the eye of Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon who said that besides the talent, “her work ethic” and “professionalism” is setting her up for an exciting professional career.
“Her game is going to translate,” Hammon said. “You can see her work ethic, her professionalism already right now, at Iowa, in how she approaches her craft.”
The Fever are looking to improve off of their 13-27 record from last season and look to capture a championship where their last and only one came in 2012. One would think when selecting Clark with the first overall pick, that titles are in the near future for Indiana.
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