Iowa’s Caitlin Clark declares for WNBA draft: What to know

The information we thought won’t come till March and even April as a substitute rocked the basketball world on the ultimate day of leap-year February: Caitlin Clark won’t return for a fifth season at Iowa, and as a substitute will enter the WNBA draft.

Clark made her announcement on Thursday afternoon through social media. She now has 3,650 factors, and is eighteen from passing LSU’s Pete Maravich for the NCAA males’s and girls’s scoring mark.

That might are available what is going to now be her remaining regular-season residence recreation on Sunday, because the Hawkeyes face Large Ten regular-season champion Ohio State. Senior day will certainly be an emotional one at Carver-Hawkeye Area, which has been offered out all season as followers clamor to see Clark and her teammates.

The information is not only massive for faculty basketball, but in addition for the WNBA. The projected No. 1 picks the previous two seasons — Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard (2022) and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston (2023) — each opted to not make the most of the COVID-19 waiver for a fifth season and had been certainly picked first. Each had been WNBA rookie of the yr winners.

Clark is a lock as the highest choose, and precisely what the Indiana Fever want: a scoring level guard to pair with younger posts like Boston and 2022 No. 2 choose NaLyssa Smith. The Fever have not reached the playoffs since Tamika Catchings retired in 2016.

Now that we all know Clark’s time is working brief in school and that she might be enjoying within the WNBA this season — which opens Might 14 — ESPN’s Charlie Creme, Rebecca Lobo, Alexa Philippou and Michael Voepel have a look at what the information means for Iowa, the NCAA event and the WNBA.

Within the brief time period, how does Clark’s announcement impression Iowa and her Hawkeyes teammates?

Creme: Clark’s teammates and Iowa’s teaching workers doubtless had some thought this was coming for some time now, so I am unsure the impression might be that vital. Clark’s plans would possibly profit Iowa, in that her staff and the remainder of the world know that is the final probability she has to win a nationwide championship. Can there be any better motivation for the gamers she has gone to battle with over the course of the previous 4 years? They’re all used to the additional consideration that comes with enjoying with Clark, so this may not be any totally different. However maybe the sense of urgency is.

🖤 pic.twitter.com/9bd3w390Ka

— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) February 29, 2024

Voepel: Charlie is true, it is doubtless the staff and coaches have been at the least conscious this was coming. For the followers — a few of whom had been chanting “Yet another yr!” at Minnesota on Wednesday night time — this might be onerous. It is robust to see a generational participant go away. However there’s additionally a way of readability in mission for Iowa now as it’s quickly to navigate its final postseason with this system’s best-ever participant.

Clark has been the presumed No. 1 choose for months. How will she slot in Indiana?

Voepel: The Fever have not been in a position to speak about Clark particularly as a result of she nonetheless had eligibility, however they’ve made it clear what their high precedence was.

“We’re seeking to see who’s going to be the following level guard of this staff,” Indiana common supervisor Lin Dunn instructed ESPN earlier this month. “Now within the WNBA, we’re all wanting on the measurement of our guards, taking a look at whether or not they are often versatile, can they rating, move and play the two and 1 positions.”

Clark has had the ball in her palms a lot of the time at Iowa, however her total offensive means will enable her to comfortably play both guard spot. And as a lot as her passing will assist the Fever put up gamers (she is the one Division I ladies’s participant with greater than 3,000 factors and 1,000 assists), so will her means to stretch the protection. With Kelsey Mitchell (497 3-pointers at Ohio State) and Clark (503 and counting at Iowa), the Fever may have two of the perfect long-distance shooters within the historical past of the ladies’s recreation.

The South Carolina followers who nonetheless cannot fairly forgive Clark for ending their excellent season final yr within the nationwide semifinals now will watch her move to Gamecock all-time nice Boston. Search for the Boston-Clark duo to actually click on.

Philippou: For months we have gotten to look at Boston speak about and even interview Clark on Peacock broadcasts. Now the duo might be taking the court docket collectively. Boston’s transition to the WNBA was extremely easy, and each she and Clark will profit from having the opposite on the court docket. If you happen to thought Clark and Monika Czinano’s connection was good, simply wait and see what would possibly develop between Clark and Boston.

What a enjoyable core Indiana will get to construct round with back-to-back No. 1 picks, in addition to Smith, the No. 2 choose in 2022. How Clark and Mitchell share the backcourt might be fascinating given they’re each ball-dominant guards.

Indiana has gone by way of some robust years since Tamika Catchings retired, however bringing in a participant like Clark is probably transformational. The truth that she’s a Midwesterner who constructed an enormous fanbase, makes her resolution to go professional all of the extra elegant for the Fever. In the event that they do issues proper with their younger expertise, the Fever may emerge as an epicenter of the ladies’s basketball world within the coming years.

If @CaitlinClark22 will get drafted to the @IndianaFever this summer season, I imagine she is going to put up MVP-caliber numbers as a rookie. Whereas her opponents might be at a special ability stage than in school, her teammates might be at one other stage as nicely. Her recreation interprets.

— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) February 4, 2024

Lobo: Clark and the Fever are a match made in heaven. The “Hero of the Heartland” staying within the Midwest to play professionally for the Fever could not be a extra excellent match for the WNBA or its latest incoming star.

And the match on the court docket is good as nicely. Clark has at all times been at her finest when paired with a proficient put up participant who can run the ground and end inside (à la Czinano and Hannah Stuelke). She is getting precisely that with Boston. The reigning WNBA rookie of the yr has terrific palms and catches something thrown close to her within the put up.

Clark thrives within the 2-man recreation. Boston could be very sturdy because the recipient in each pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop conditions. Clark manipulates defenses to get her teammates simple catch-and-shoot appears. Mitchell is elite within the catch-and-shoot from lengthy vary. This previous season, she shot 46% on catch-and-shoot 3s, in accordance with Synergy. The Fever additionally acquired Katie Lou Samuelson this offseason, one other excellent goal exterior the 3-point line for Clark when she breaks down the protection.

Indiana ranked tenth in tempo final season. That can instantly change with Clark and her means to push the ball off each makes and misses. I anticipate the Fever at hand her the reins and let her run with them. Jewell Loyd led the WNBA final season in discipline aim makes an attempt. Will Caitlin put up 22 pictures per recreation like she has her senior season? Perhaps not, however there is no cause to suppose she will not be given the inexperienced gentle to shoot between 15-20 occasions per recreation.

Indiana hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 and had the second lowest attendance common a season in the past. After all the staff will need Caitlin to be Caitlin, taking pictures emblem 3s and enjoying a fast-paced recreation. She’s going to make the Fever a playoff contender in 2024 and with out query one of many high attracts within the league for years to return.

Whereas we’re on that subject, may Clark have an identical impression on attendance, TV scores and ticket gross sales that we have seen this season in school?

Voepel: That is the take a look at: Will Clark’s huge school fan membership develop into Fever/WNBA followers? The league has been saying goodbye to an older era of stars for the previous few years, together with Sue Chook and Sylvia Fowles. Different massive names are at or close to age 40, and might be retiring quickly. And there’s a want for the following era of younger standouts to comply with the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson, who turns 28 this yr, and the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, who turns 30. Search for gamers equivalent to Clark to have the ability to do this.

Clark is a part of the primary group of faculty athletes who’ve been in a position to reap the benefits of NIL alternatives, so they arrive into the WNBA in somewhat totally different place financially and when it comes to their total public profile. Are they nonetheless going to be handled like rookies by WNBA veterans? Sure, however let’s hope the vets additionally understand {that a} rising tide can carry all boats. Bringing in a giant fan base like Clark will assist the Fever and the league as an entire.

Philippou: There’s been a lot dialogue through the years about how the ladies’s school recreation has constructed an even bigger profile than the WNBA through the years. Nobody participant must be anticipated to single-handedly bridge the hole — and with different brilliant stars like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins, it does not must relaxation squarely on Clark’s shoulders. However there is no denying Clark’s star energy and the impression she’ll have in Indiana and for the WNBA within the coming years.

Is Clark probably the most hyped rookie in WNBA historical past? Who would you evaluate her to?

Philippou: Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker had been hyped again within the day, so we do not wish to promote these legends brief. However there’s one thing monumental occurring on this second with the expansion of ladies’s sports activities and the emergence of NIL for faculty athletes that helped Clark develop into a particular sort of family identify. The flashiness of her recreation with the emblem 3s clearly provides to that. It’s going to be fascinating to see how that hype, each round WNBA circles and amongst extra informal or newer followers, carries over into her first summer season in Indiana.

Voepel: The ladies’s school recreation has grown a lot even within the final 5 years, it is onerous to check something proper now to very far again. There was a variety of hype about Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu in 2020, though a few of that was diminished by the cancellation of the NCAA event that yr due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the truth that Ionescu’s first WNBA season ended after three video games due to an ankle damage.

Among the many different gamers with a variety of hype as rookies — together with Taurasi and Parker — had been Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw in 1998 (Washington Mystics) and the “Three to See” from the 2013 class: Baylor’s Brittney Griner (No. 1 to the Phoenix Mercury), Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne (No. 2 to the Chicago Sky) and Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins-Smith (No. 3 to the Tulsa Shock). However the mixture of Clark’s reputation and excessive profile is probably the most we have ever seen on a nationwide entrance for a first-year WNBA participant. Identify recognition means a lot, nonetheless, in ladies’s sports activities, and Clark has it.

play

Caitlin Clark credit former greats who ‘paved the way in which’ for her success

Iowa star Caitlin Clark discusses her record-breaking night time with Holly Rowe, and what senior night time will really feel like for her.

What else can we anticipate from Clark as a rookie? What’s going to her stats appear to be in comparison with what she’s doing this season?

Philippou: Clark won’t take almost 23 pictures per recreation as she is doing this season at Iowa (for a body of reference, Jewell Loyd took a league-high 20.3 discipline aim makes an attempt per recreation in 2023), however she is going to nonetheless be an offensive menace, and her help numbers might be sturdy with gamers like Boston, Smith and Mitchell surrounding her. The twin-threat nature of her recreation as a shooter and passer — and she will be able to get to the rim, too — ought to translate, even when there’s an adjustment interval to the physicality of the professional stage. There’ll doubtless be extra of an adjustment in what’s required defensively, and we all know Lin Dunn loves defensive-minded groups.

Voepel: Fever veteran guard Erica Wheeler was at an Iowa recreation final season and mentioned of Clark, “This child is prepared for the professionals now.” Folks additionally must do not forget that a lot of the “biggest participant ever” feedback tossed round concerning Clark have come from individuals who haven’t got an extended historical past (or any historical past) watching the ladies’s recreation. And so they definitely did not come from somebody like Clark, who is aware of she continues to be rising her recreation.

There may be zero doubt Clark is on the very brief record of the best offensive gamers in ladies’s or males’s school basketball historical past. Her impression through her reputation and “watchability” within the ladies’s recreation has been huge. However she’s now going to a better stage of competitors and might want to make changes.

On the identical time, she’s going to be passing the ball to put up gamers like Boston and Smith, who can catch absolutely anything and rating. That might be enjoyable to see. Clark, total, may have a couple of ups and downs as rookies do, however goes to be an impressive professional. That is nice information for the WNBA.

play

Caitlin Clark units main ladies’s basketball scoring mark

Caitlin Clark passes Corridor of Famer Lynette Woodard for probably the most factors scored by a significant ladies’s basketball participant.

How far can Iowa go in Clark’s remaining NCAA event? What wouldn’t it take for the Hawkeyes to succeed in one other Closing 4?

Philippou: Clark returning to the Closing 4 — perhaps even the nationwide title recreation — in her remaining yr with this system could be a picture-perfect ending for Hawkeye Nation. And it might be silly to depend out a staff with a generational, transcendent participant on its roster, somebody who final yr put collectively some of the memorable particular person runs in sports activities historical past.

However with out Czinano and McKenna Warnick from final season’s squad, Iowa has relied extra on Clark than ever earlier than, and up to date losses to Nebraska and Indiana confirmed this staff nonetheless wants different gamers to persistently step up offensively, particularly if she’s having a quiet night time. And on the opposite facet of the ball, the Hawkeyes are nonetheless giving up a variety of factors. Iowa’s narrower margin of error means its probabilities of making one other deep March run are slimmer, albeit not negligible, particularly relying on the matchups they find yourself with on their facet of the bracket.

Creme: If Iowa is to supply a championship, Clark might need to do much more than she did in final yr’s NCAA event. That’s asking so much, even of Clark. A constant and extremely productive six video games out of Hannah Stuelke might be a necessity, and the opposite Iowa veterans like Gabby Marshall and Kate Martin should ship as nicely.

Clark is able to carrying the staff to wins even in opposition to the perfect competitors within the nation in a one-game scenario. She basically did that in opposition to South Carolina within the 2023 Closing 4, but it surely wasn’t sustainable for 2 video games in Dallas. It might need to be if Iowa goes to be topped a champion.

Voepel: It is in regards to the matchups: How good will the defenses be that Iowa faces, and the way will the Hawkeyes reply? We have seen Iowa at its “worst” — scoring 69 factors in opposition to a stifling Indiana protection — and its “finest” — hitting 100-plus every in opposition to Illinois and Minnesota — all previously week.

The Hawkeyes made 17 3-pointers in opposition to the Illini and a Large Ten-record 22 in opposition to the Gophers. These numbers aren’t simple to copy, particularly when you get to the extent of Candy 16 and past. However it does present you the way potent Iowa’s offense could be. In opposition to Minnesota, Clark accounted for 61 factors between her scoring assists — extra factors than the Gophers had as a staff (60).