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Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of ThePedimentGroup,Inc. • www.pediment.com Printed in Canada.
This book is an unofficial account of Caitlin Clark’s rookie season with the Indiana Fever and is not endorsed by the Indiana Fever or the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Credits Photography
Grace Hollars
Mykal McEldowney
Jacob Musselman
Michelle Pemberton
Brett Phelps
Grace Smith Stories
Zion Brown
Dana Hunsinger Benbow
Chloe Peterson
Nat Newell
Matthew Glenesk
LEFT: Caitlin Clark (22) against the USA Women’s National Team during the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center on July 20, 2024, in Phoenix. MARK J. REBILAS / USA TODAY SPORTS
Caitlin Clark declares for the WNBA draft. And the Indiana Fever have the No. 1 pick …
CHLOE
PETERSON • FEB. 29, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Take a breath, Indiana Fever fans. Caitlin Clark has officially declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft.
The Iowa phenom posted her intentions on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday afternoon.
“While this season is far from over and we have a lot more goals to achieve, it will be my last one at Iowa. I am excited to be entering the 2024 WNBA Draft,” Clark wrote. “It is impossible to fully express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me during my time at Iowa — my teammates, who made the last four years the best; my coaches, trainers, and staff who always let me be me; Hawkeye fans who filled Carver every night; and everyone who came out to support us across the country, especially the young kids.
“Most importantly, none of this would
have been possible without my family and friends who have been by my side through it all. Because of all of you, my dreams came true.”
Clark is widely regarded to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, which the Indiana Fever have. The reigning national player of the year is averaging 32.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 8.5 assists per game in her senior season. She is also a triple-double machine, with 17 triple-doubles in her career so far and two recently back-toback against Illinois and at Minnesota.
This is the second straight season that the Fever have the No. 1 pick in the draft; they chose center Aliyah Boston with the top pick in 2023.
The Fever’s coaches and front office staff have had their eyes on Clark for a while. Coach Christie Sides attended an Iowa game against Loyola-Chicago in
Iowa City about a week after the WNBA draft lottery in December, while Fever assistant GM Hillary Spears attended the Iowa-Purdue game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette in January.
“I know how well people support women’s basketball here,” Clark said following Iowa’s win over Purdue in January. “I think that’s pretty evident when we take a trip to Purdue, a trip to Indiana.”
Both Sides and general manager Lin Dunn were at Iowa’s game against IU last week in Bloomington.
After Clark’s news broke Thursday, the Fever’s X account posted “We’re simply reminding you that there are 46 days until the 2024 WNBA Draft.” And a separate post about season tickets with the caption, “Hop on board.”
You get the idea.
Clark will likely make around $75,000
OPPOSITE: Indianapolis artist Kwazar Martin puts the finishing touches on his most recent graffiti mural of Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player Caitlin Clark on March 11, 2024. Clark is the community favorite for the Indiana Fever’s upcoming No. 1 WNBA draft pick.
MYKAL MCELDOWNEY / INDYSTAR
as a base salary in her first season in the WNBA. Her national brand deals with Nike, State Farm, Gatorade, Buick and others will likely carry over to her professional life, though, making her salary essentially a non-factor.
She will eventually be able to make up to $250,000 on a supermax deal, which will come after five years in the league. She also has opportunities to make money through marketing directly with the league — she could make up to $250,000 on a WNBA Player Marketing Agreement, and $100,000 on a Team Marketing Agreement.
RIGHT: Ivy Henderson, 10, of Ankeny, meets Iowa’s Caitlin Clark after the game against Illinois on Feb. 25, 2024, at CarverHawkeye Arena. Clark signed Henderson’s jersey and took a photo with her.
JULIA HANSEN / USA TODAY SPORTS
Caitlin Clark explains WNBA decision: ‘Getting the weight of the world off my shoulders’
CHLOE PETERSON • MARCH 1, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark felt “the weight of the world” come off her shoulders Thursday afternoon as she clicked send on her social media post.
The post that thanked Hawkeyes fans for their unwavering support over the past four years at Iowa, showered love on her teammates and family, and, most importantly, provided clarity on her intentions to declare for the 2024 WNBA draft.
She made her decision public three days before Iowa’s senior day against Ohio State on Sunday afternoon — something that will be an all-around affair, with a sold-out crowd and ESPN’s “College Gameday” in town.
“I think I’ve known for a little while, honestly,” Clark told media Friday afternoon. “I’ve had quite a few conversations with our coaching staff, and they were always very supportive in trying to help me understand both sides and see both sides, so I think especially over the last couple weeks, my decision has become more clear.”
While Clark is in her fourth year with the Hawkeyes, she technically had one more year of eligibility; the NCAA gave
all 2020–21 student-athletes an extra year because of COVID-19.
Throughout the season, Clark had conversations with Iowa’s coaching staff and her family surrounding the options of staying at Iowa or moving on to the professional world, and which would work best for her.
“We talked about the pros and the cons, and obviously everyone wants her to come back that’s an Iowa fan,” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen said in an interview with Iowa News Now’s Owen Siebring. “That pressure she’s been carrying is great, and the new frontiers… Caitlin has been blessed with a great family team, and a great circle of trust around her.”
Clark will walk, along with four of her teammates, in the senior festivities postgame Sunday — and she knows, without a doubt, it will be her last time playing a regular-season game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I think just going into senior night, having that decision clear not only for myself, but for the fans, my teammates, I think that was super important,” Clark said. “And just getting the weight of the world off my shoulders, and being
able to enjoy this last month with my teammates, I think is the biggest thing.”
The Hawkeyes senior has been widely regarded as the No. 1 draft pick in the 2024 WNBA draft since she became the 2023 consensus National Player of the Year and led Iowa to a national championship game appearance. Ever since the Fever won the No. 1 pick back in December, mock drafts have consistently projected her to go to Indiana.
Clark said the Fever coaching staff or front office have not been in contact with her since she made her decision official Thursday night. The Fever’s social team did make multiple posts on X directly following Clark’s announcement, though, including a “hop on board” post advertising season tickets, and a post that read “we’re just simply reminding you that there are only 46 days until the 2024 WNBA Draft,” above a graphic showing Indiana’s No. 1 pick.
Clark has accomplished about everything an individual player can in her record-breaking career as a Hawkeye. As the reigning national player of the year, she broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s basketball scoring record in February, and she is poised to pass Pete Maravich’s
record of 3,667 points — something that has stood untouched since 1970 — this week to become the all-time leading scorer in major college basketball.
She has stymied defenses all season, consistently making 3-point shots from distances that were previously unheard of. Her shot to break the record came 5 feet clear of the 3-point line.
“I knew in my heart here that what we’ve been able to do is so special, and that it’s not over yet, but I think I’m ready for the next chapter in my life, too,” Clark said.
Averaging 32.3 points, 8.4 assists, and 7.5 rebounds per game this season, it was time for the next challenge.
“Caitlin is wired for challenges, she’s wired for everything that’s on that next horizon,” Jensen said in an interview with Iowa’s News Now. “As a coach, our jobs are to help them become the best they can be, and help them make great life decisions.”
But first, Clark is making the most of her final season with the Hawkeyes, hoping to lead them back to the national championship game. The Hawkeyes had the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA Top-16 reveal, which was released
RIGHT: Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) warms up before the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Feb. 28, 2024. MATT KROHN / USA TODAY SPORTS
OPPOSITE: Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) signs autographs after the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Feb. 28, 2024. MATT KROHN / USA TODAY SPORTS
Thursday night, making them a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
And with this decision behind her, she can play loose and free for the rest of Iowa’s season — just like she did in her triple-double showing against Minnesota the night before she officially announced
her intentions.
“Any time you make a big decision and you’re confident in it, that’s what happens,”
Clark said. “I think going into the rest of the year, just smile, have fun, and play free.
After this game this weekend, we’re really only guaranteed two games.”
Depending on how deep Iowa goes in the NCAA tournament, Clark may only have a couple weeks to prepare for WNBA training camp. The Final Four and national championship are the first weekend in April, the WNBA draft is on April 15, and training camp starts on April 28.
How does Caitlin Clark fit Indiana Fever’s roster? Perfectly.
CHLOE
PETERSON • APRIL 12, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark would make any WNBA team better, but she is the perfect fit for what the Indiana Fever needs.
Clark, who is expected to be drafted No. 1 overall to the Fever in Monday’s WNBA draft, will very likely join the starting lineup for the Fever, pairing her with reigning Rookie of the Year center Aliyah Boston, third-year forward NaLyssa Smith, veteran forward Katie Lou Samuelson, and 2023 AllStar guard Kelsey Mitchell.
At this point, Indiana has the frontcourt figured out. Boston and Smith are a dangerous duo in the paint, averaging 14.5 and 15.5 points per game, respectively. Especially with a year under Boston’s belt, she has learned to fight through the lane to get high-percentage shots. Samuelson is a veteran who can stretch the floor in both a guard and forward role.
In Clark, the Fever have found exactly what they need in the backcourt:
a confident point guard who can run through traffic, direct plays and still score herself at a high volume.
Her biggest competition for the point guard starting role will be Erica Wheeler, who is in the final season of a two-year, near-max contract with the Fever. Wheeler, an All-Star in 2019, started at point guard last season, averaging 9.9 points and 5.0 assists per game.
But Wheeler isn’t a strong 3-point shooter — she shot just 2.4 3-pointers per game at a clip of 30.9%.
Something the Fever desperately missed last season was multiple consistent 3-point shooters. Kelsey Mitchell was the only player to attempt more than 100 3-pointers in the 40game season, and she made 39.8% of her shots beyond the arc.
The Fever’s 3-point game was easy to guard, though, as opponents only needed to focus on Mitchell, who was the only person to shoot over 31% from
beyond the arc — other than Boston, who only took 12 3s last season.
Adding Clark will help spread out the floor. With a 37.7 career shooting percentage behind the arc and countless flashy long-range 3s from her college career, WNBA veterans will make it a point to keep close to her defensively.
It still stands to be determined if coach Christie Sides will let her pull up from the logo in transition — Sides is a methodical coach, and most of her game plans do not include transition 3-pointers. But there also hasn’t been a player on the Fever’s roster that can consistently make those long 3s, so only time will tell to see if Sides will open up a different side of the playbook.
The Iowa guard’s extravagant post-entry passes, too, will open up a new set of plays for the second-year Fever coach, as the Iowa guard averaged 8.2 assists per game throughout her college career. Clark played a more traditional, back-to-the-basket post
offense in her first three years at Iowa, and she easily dropped in no-look or behind-the-back passes to center Monika Czinano.
Sure, the WNBA is becoming more positionless each year, but Boston has the strength to not only catch those passes from Clark, but go up against the best centers in the league to get those passes through the hoop. Clark also got some more ‘positionless’ assist work in her final year at Iowa, as the Hawkeyes transitioned to more of a fluid offense with no true center.
With Clark the bonafide missing piece for Indiana, the Fever will have its most complete starting lineup since Tamika Catchings retired in 2016. It should be enough for the Fever to improve upon their 13–27 record from last season — and possibly make the playoffs, where Indiana hasn’t been since 2016.
OPPOSITE: Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) and forward Aliyah Boston (7) hug during a game against the New York Liberty at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 4, 2023. GRACE SMITH / USA TODAY SPORTS
Caitlin Clark is
‘the biggest star in sports right now.’ And she’s coming to Indiana.
CHLOE PETERSON • APRIL 14, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — The first nine games of Caitlin Clark’s college career weren’t even on TV.
It was November 2020, in the middle of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hawkeyes’ five-star recruit out of West Des Moines, Iowa, was preparing for the first game of her college career against Northern Iowa. And really, there weren’t that many people there to see it — in person or on TV. Big Ten Plus, a subscription service, streamed the games.
As a sophomore at Iowa at the time, I covered that game for my college paper, The Daily Iowan. Carver-Hawkeye Arena was eerily quiet — the only fans allowed in the building were family members, who were masked and socially distancing as much as possible.
Sure, there were those cardboard cutouts of fans littered across the seats, but really, those were just creepy.
Black curtains rolled down from the ceilings of the arena, sectioning off half of the 15,000-fan capacity. Yes, the pandemic restrictions were tight, but Jeff Linder, who has been covering the Iowa women’s basketball team for
the Cedar Rapids Gazette since 2009, said those black curtains had been down at most women’s basketball games pre-pandemic anyway.
“It was a nice, quaint, fun beat before,” Linder said. “I mean, they had Megan Gustafson and they made it to the Elite Eight and at that time, we thought ‘Boy, this is as good as it gets.’
But, you know, along comes Caitlin.”
Clark was one of the most anticipated recruits in Iowa program history — she was ranked fourth in the nation, first in the state, and she was an immediate add to the starting lineup. But at the time, it was a local story.
And the story was “How will Caitlin Clark replace Kathleen Doyle, the point guard who was Big Ten Player of the Year?”
“We knew that she was a big deal as far as oh, she’s a five-star, she’s fourth in the country, and you knew she was going to be good,” Linder said, “… but I remember one thing (coach Lisa) Bluder said was, ‘It’s exit Doyle and enter Clark,’ which sounded crazy, because here’s this freshman coming in and she’s got to make that kind of
impact right away? But right away as a freshman, she was almost always the best player on the floor.”
She nearly had a double-double in her college debut, totaling 27 points and eight rebounds. In those first nine untelevised games, she scored 30 points or more three times — including a 37-point showing against Minnesota — and already achieved her first career triple-double.
Meghan McKeown, a play-by-play announcer and analyst for the Big Ten Network, was on the call for the first time Clark played on TV. McKeown’s pregame prep with players took place mostly on Zoom at that time because of COVID protocols, but even over a screen, Clark didn’t carry herself as a freshman.
“No one had really seen her yet, because their games were kind of on streaming, kind of not,” McKeown said. “Her maturity, poise. I mean, you know how Zoom calls are, they’re kind of awkward, you don’t really know when to talk, when to go, you take away that human interaction. But she was just so smooth, we could’ve talked to her for an hour. I was so impressed
and blown away just by her maturity.”
That TV debut Jan. 9, 2021 game vs. Northwestern ended up being the worst game of Clark’s college career with eight points, eight assists and two rebounds (the only time she scored fewer than 10 points). It also only pulled in 54,000 viewers on BTN.
Three years later, in the age of NIL and household names in women’s basketball, you couldn’t imagine a game featuring Caitlin Clark having less than a million viewers.
Name, image, and likeness became possible for student-athletes in 2021, but Clark really started her ascent into stardom ahead of her junior season in 2022. She was a finalist for the national player of the year her sophomore season, eventually losing out to 2022 national champion and eventual No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston (who will likely be her teammate in just a few hours). Then, ahead of her junior season, her popularity ballooned out of proportion. Those black curtains went up into the ceiling, staying there for the next two seasons. Iowa ranked second nationally in women’s basketball
OPPOSITE: Iowa Hawkeye fans react before the game as Caitlin Clark (not pictured) attempts to set the NCAA basketball all-time scoring record against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on March 3, 2024. JEFFREY BECKER / USA TODAY SPORTS
ABOVE: Iowa Hawkeyes fans support guard Caitlin Clark (not pictured) as the Hawkeyes host the West Virginia Mountaineers during an NCAA second-round game at CarverHawkeye Arena on March 25, 2024, in Iowa City. JEFFREY BECKER / USA TODAY SPORTS
attendance during her junior season in 2022–23, averaging over 11,000 fans.
Clark said she wanted more than anything to bring the Hawkeyes back to a Final Four. Before Clark, Iowa had only been to the Final Four once in 1993.
Exactly 30 years later, they were back again.
Iowa had been close to the final weekend of the tournament before. Gustafson
hundreds of dollars to see Clark and the Hawkeyes.
The 2023 national championship game against LSU was packed, and it drew an unprecedented 9.9 million viewers. Well, it was unprecedented at the time.
After sweeping the national player of the year awards as a junior, Clark’s senior year blew what was once unprecedented out of the water.
Starring in commercials with State Farm, having her own cereal through HyVee, and deals with Nike turned Clark into a household name. It didn’t matter if you followed women’s basketball or not, you knew who Caitlin Clark was.
“It started out like a small group of women’s basketball fans kind of knew who she was, that she was coming on the scene,” McKeown said “… Now, the only person I can compare Caitlin Clark to is Taylor Swift. The hoopla and like, people are lining up at 5 a.m. to get a seat, just get a glance at her and she’s making people cry in the stands, people are freaking crying! And I’m like these are the reactions I personally have when I go to a Taylor Swift concert, it’s like the most sought-after ticket in town, and she’s the biggest star in sports right now.”
led the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight in 2019, but there wasn’t nearly as much attention on the Hawkeyes then. During the 2023 Final Four weekend, though, news conferences and open locker room sessions were filled to the brim trying to talk to Clark.
Ticket prices to the American Airlines Center in Dallas soared higher than those of the men’s Final Four, with fans paying
Carver-Hawkeye Arena was sold out all year, and the Hawkeyes became the hottest ticket in any town they went to. Every road game (aside from two early-season tournament games in Florida) was sold out, including those in West Lafayette and Bloomington.
Kids brought signs to try and get her attention, waving and cheering whenever she came near. Some people across the nation, Linder said, had signs saying they drove 14 hours to see Clark or even flew in
from Germany.
The most-watched games in women’s college basketball history (Iowa-LSU in the Elite Eight, Iowa-UConn in the Final Four, Iowa-South Carolina in the national championship) all feature her and the Hawkeyes, and she has become a household name more than anyone could have anticipated.
The rematch against LSU in the Elite Eight brought in more than the 2023 national championship game with 12.3 million viewers, and Iowa’s Final Four game against UConn topped that with 14.2 million. Then came the national championship match against South Carolina, which nearly doubled last year’s number with 18.9 million.
Clark brought an entire town, an entire state, an entire country together to watch women’s basketball at unprecedented levels. Now, she’s off to the WNBA, and is expected to do the same thing in Indianapolis as she is picked by the Fever on Monday night.
And the Fever is the team that needs it the most. Indiana hasn’t been to the playoffs since Tamika Catchings retired in 2016, and the Fever had the second-lowest attendance in the league in 2023 with an average of 4,066 fans per game. Indiana is already on the up and up, with a young core of Aliyah Boston, NaLyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell, and Clark fits into the puzzle perfectly.
for her arrival — the Fever have 36 of their 40 games on national television, which is the most in the league and a stratospheric leap from one nationally televised game in 2023. The Fever have a special presale for single-game tickets leading up to the draft, releasing limited amounts of tickets for two games per day.
‘in 49 states, it’s just basketball.’ Clark is coming to the one where it means the most.
ABOVE: Caitlin Clark signs autographs for fans after practice in Dallas on March 30, 2023.
The league has already been preparing
There’s a saying in Indiana that goes,
“What she does is she plays unlike anybody else,” Linder said. “Her game is on a different level than people have seen, and Indiana is such a basketball crazy state. And I just think they’re gonna fall in love with her.”
ZACH BOYDEN-HOLMES / DES MOINES REGISTER
REGULAR SEASON
How Caitlin Clark deals with fame
and expectations: ‘I wouldn’t want it any other way:’
CHLOE PETERSON • MAY 14, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — For a while now,
Caitlin Clark has been on top of the world.
She led Iowa women’s basketball to back-to-back national championship games and accomplished just about everything there was to as a college athlete. She became Division I basketball’s alltime leading scorer and took her homestate school to a place it hadn’t been in 30 years.
So, she was ready for a new test.
“When she’s excited about a challenge, and she’s excited about an opportunity, she comes in ready and she is set to go,” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen said. “And I don’t think that’s been any different whether it’s from junior high to high school, you know, high school to an AAU program, from high school to college, from college to the W. The kid is just ready, and she’s excited. And she’s always about the next frontier.”
Clark was the consensus No. 1 pick for the WNBA draft since she won her first National Player of the Year award in 2023. The Fever made the obvious choice on April 15, setting Clark on that next frontier, in the WNBA. In Indianapolis.
The recognizable life of Caitlin Clark
Since moving to Indianapolis, Clark has realized no matter what city she is in, she will be recognized in one way or another. She has a personal security guard, Steve, who will always be nearby when she’s doing media interviews, revving up the crowd in the Pacers’ Indy car before a playoff game, or even just sitting in a box during a Pacers game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
People are still able to come up and talk with her and ask her to sign something — including one woman who asked her during a Pacers game to sign her ultrasound.
“That was definitely a first,” Clark said in Dallas on May 3. “It was cute, it was funny. I think at the same time they had all their friends around, and I don’t even think they had told their friends, because their friends were like, ‘What?’, and then I signed the ultrasound, but it was a cute little moment.”
With the help of name, image, and likeness in college, Clark has become a household name — transcending her recognizability to more than just women’s basketball fans. She is appearing in State Farm and Gatorade ads across the country, and people know who she is whether they’re basketball fans or not.
In some ways, it’s similar to Taylor Swift’s level of fame — maybe not on a global scale, but at least in the U.S. There are fans selling out around to see Clark play in a Fever uniform, leading
OPPOSITE: Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) signs autographs for fans after the NCAA first-round game against the Holy Cross Crusaders at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on March 23, 2024. JEFFREY BECKER / USA TODAY SPORTS
‘I’m not gonna deny the Caitlin Clark effect.’ Rookie biggest draw
in
WNBA history.
CHLOE PETERSON • JULY 25, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — The numbers prove it: Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark is a draw.
She is a draw in a way no other player has been before in the 27-year history of the WNBA, and she and the Fever have been putting up mind-boggling viewership and attendance numbers.
“I’m not gonna deny the Caitlin Clark effect,” WNBA Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison told IndyStar during AllStar weekend. “And we’ve really seen it most importantly in viewership, you know, our average viewership numbers are over 1.2 million. And so that sort of growth is important because we’re opening the aperture and bringing in new fans. So Caitlin was really a catalyst to bringing in a lot of new fans, as well as our other rookies, who came in through NCAA into this draft. It’s been an amazing draft class to watch.”
The WNBA tried to get ahead of what has become unprecedented viewership numbers for the league. It started its marketing campaign during the NCAA
women’s basketball tournament for the first time, and put 36 of the Fever’s 40 games on national television even before Indiana officially drafted Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft.
WNBA Chief Marketing Officer
Phil Cook said the league is trying to bring in distinct groups of fans. Those include general basketball fans, who may watch NBA or college basketball regularly, as well as fans who mainly pay attention to those big moments, like NBA Finals or Super Bowl, and casual fans who want to be part of the conversation.
And these new types of fans are tuning in to see Clark get the first triple-double by a rookie or dish out a WNBA-record 19 assists in a single game.
“The audience we really wanted to connect with this year was the audience that loves basketball, or loves big sport moments, or is just a casual sports fan,” Cook told IndyStar. “And
when you put performances like that on the board, it gets them interested. They turn their head and say, ‘19 assists in a 40-minute game in the W? That’s incredible.’ These numbers are, like, unprecedented, and I think the loyalist has said, ‘Oh yeah, our game has been this good for 20 years, you just haven’t been watching.’”
The viewership records started before Clark even played her first professional minute. The WNBA draft brought in a record 2.4 million viewers in April, shattering the previous record of 601,000 that was set in 2004 — when UConn’s Diana Taurasi was drafted to the Phoenix Mercury.
Those records haven’t stopped as the league moves into the Olympic break for the 2024 Paris Games. The Fever’s season-opening game against Connecticut, Clark’s first game as a professional, set an ESPN2 viewership record with 2.12 million viewers tuning in.
Indiana’s final game before the Olympic break against the Dallas
Wings saw 1.7 million viewers, making it the 16th WNBA game this season with over 1 million people tuning in — already a new league record. Fourteen of those 16 games included Clark and the Fever, according to Sports Media Watch.
The Fever’s top two most-watched games have also come with the help of another rookie: Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese. Clark and Reese have been seen as rivals dating back to their college days, when Reese’s LSU took down Clark’s Iowa in the 2023 national championship. The rivalry only strengthened when they were drafted to teams just three hours apart, and the two frontrunners for Rookie of the Year now play four times a season as Eastern Conference foes.
The second matchup between the Fever and Sky on June 16 drew record viewership for a WNBA game on CBS with 2.25 million viewers. The rematch just a week later set another viewership record on ESPN with 2.3 million
OPPOSITE: Fans hold up signs during the game between the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on July 17, 2024.
JAIRAJ / USA TODAY SPORTS
KEVIN
Fever crumbled in games like this before.
But not this time.
Gritty effort leads to sweep.
CHLOE PETERSON • AUG. 17, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time in nine years, Indiana went an entire season without losing to the Phoenix Mercury.
The Fever completed the season sweep over Phoenix on Friday night, 98–89, going 3–0 against the Mercury this season — the franchise’s first season series sweep vs. anyone since 2020 and first sweep of Phoenix since 2015.
“It’s just those small victories,” coach Christie Sides said of going unbeaten vs Phoenix. “We want to get the W, get in the win column. But those are things that haven’t been done in several years, so that’s just a huge win for us. I mean, that, you know, we just keep building on all these little things, and keep talking about our habits that are going to help us be successful.”
Yes, there have been some stipulations. Phoenix traveled to Indianapolis twice, both times on the second half of a back-to-back. The first time Phoenix came on July 12, it ended up limited to just six players after center Brittney
Griner got injured in the second quarter. On Friday, 24 hours after a game against Chicago, the Mercury had eight available players, three of which were Olympians who got back from Paris less than a week ago.
Phoenix is, however, a much more veteran team, comprised of six-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi, threetime gold medalist Griner, and 2021 WNBA Finals MVP and gold medalist Kahleah Copper. They also have sixyear veteran Sophie Cunningham and nine-year vet Natasha Cloud.
No matter the circumstances, Phoenix is a tough team to beat — whether it’s one, two or even three times.
“Being able to beat this team three times, you know, that’s awesome,” Fever rookie Caitlin Clark said. “It’s really hard to beat a team once, let alone twice, but three times, it’s really hard to do, especially in this league.”
The Mercury, as veteran teams do, especially made it hard for the Fever on Friday night.
In those cases, it comes down to grit and fighting in the trenches — something seven-year Fever veteran Kelsey Mitchell knows well.
“The grit and the game in those third quarters, when teams make runs, it’s how you win the game in the WNBA,” Mitchell said. “You’ve gotta be gritty, you’ve gotta get trenchy a little bit.”
Indiana raced out to a big lead in the first quarter, taking advantage of the Mercury’s lethargy from a packed week. Clark herself scored 13 points in the first quarter. By the second quarter, Indiana led by as many as 28 points, and it seemed like it was one of those that the Fever could coast to a win.
Eventually, the Mercury found another gear. They outscored the Fever 20–3 over a stretch that encompassed both the second and third quarters, and the Fever slowly saw their lead diminish more and more. At one point, the Fever even trailed by a point in the third.
Earlier in the season, the Fever
would’ve shut down — it happened against the Seattle Storm, when Indiana took a 103–88 loss on May 30, and again in a 104–68 loss to New York on June 2. But this isn’t the same Fever team. Not anymore.
They’ve learned how to hold firm, even when they’re facing with surging opponents.
“I’m really proud of us,” Clark said. “I thought, you know, there would be times throughout the year where we kind of crumble, when we gave up a huge lead ... 28 and it got down to one, I think. So, yeah, I think there’s times where we would have crumbled, but we just kept battling and fighting. And I thought it was a really good win for us.”
Indiana is now 12–15, firmly in a playoff spot at seventh place in the WNBA standings. Phoenix stands one spot ahead with a 14–13 record. This win was a confidence-booster for a Fever team pushing for their first playoff spot since 2016. Indiana’s win over Phoenix in June was the Fever’s
OPPOSITE: Indiana Fever guard Kristy Wallace (3) and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) smile in a huddle, Aug. 16, 2024, before the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. GRACE SMITH / INDYSTAR
‘The
sky’s the limit.’ Indiana Fever trending up with first 20-win season since 2015
CHLOE PETERSON • SEPT. 15, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — As the final buzzer sounded in the scoring frenzy that was the Indiana Fever-Dallas Wings Sunday matinee, Fever players grinned as their winning soundtrack blared through the speakers.
It was the 11th time they’d heard it on their home court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as they finished with a 110–109 advantage, ending the regular season with an 11–8 record at home.
More importantly, it was their 20th win of the season overall. It’s the best record they’ve had in nearly a decade, and they don’t take that type of success for granted.
They will be guaranteed a .500 or better record in the regular season for the first time since 2016 (Fever finished 17–17 in a 34-game season). Indiana also locked in the No. 6 seed in the WNBA playoffs with Sunday’s win.
It’s a big deal for a team that had won just 36 total games between 2018–22; their 36–122 record was the worst in all five major U.S. sports over that span. Just two seasons ago,
the Fever won five games in an entire season
Making it to the playoffs was not something coach Christie Sides envisioned when she took the job following the 2022 season. As part of her four-year contract with the team, she made a four-year plan to get back on track.
Making the playoffs was in the plan; just not this early.
“When I took the job and we made a plan, it was more of a four-year plan,” Sides said postgame, “and, you know, in Year 2, never would have thought we would have picked up these 20 wins. Just really proud of these players for what they’ve done, the work they put in, the resiliency they’ve shown.”
A lot of the success, of course, has to be attributed to rookie Caitlin Clark. The two-time college National Player of the Year came to the Fever as a potential franchise-changing No. 1 pick, and she’s lived up to the hype.
Revamping the Fever offense to an extremely up-tempo, transition game, Clark has not only set the
rookie scoring record, but she also set the WNBA single-season assist record with games to spare. She’s the only rookie to have a triple-double (she has two so far), and the Fever went from 13 wins in 2023 to 20 wins (and counting) with Clark leading the offense.
She showcased it Sunday afternoon; she bucketed a career-high 35 points on her way to breaking the rookie scoring record. Right by her side, too, was seven-year veteran Kelsey Mitchell, who finished with 30 points.
Mitchell and Clark have become a dynamic backcourt duo, with each of them averaging over 19 points per game. Mitchell, with a 19.3 point average, just edges Clark’s 19.1 heading into Thursday’s regular-season finale.
“Kelsey, she makes my life easier out there,” Clark said. “And it’s hard to pick and choose when both of us are on at the one and two position. That just puts opposing defenses in a really tough spot... She’s so fast that she gets open every single time. So,
I’m really happy for her and proud of her. She definitely deserves this moment.”
This 20-win season is especially special for Mitchell, who has spent her entire career with the Fever since being drafted at No. 2 in 2018. She was there during that abysmal fouryear stretch. She has gone through four coaches, four general managers, countless teammates, and became the only person, whether it was on the team or the coaching staff, that has held through the entire time.
“Shout out to the process,” Mitchell said. “I think that the process is something that, you know, you take for granted. You’ll never understand it until you’re in it. And I think the process for me was to have to see what that was. And now, on the flip side of things, I get to do this with a special group, and so I’m very grateful to be able to do it with such a young and vibrant group. And I think that for us, the sky’s the limit, because no one thought we’d be here. So now we get to take it a step further.”
She signed a three-year contract
OPPOSITE: Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull (10) talk during a timeout on Sept. 15, 2024, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. GRACE HOLLARS / INDYSTAR
extension with the Fever in 2021 because she believed in what the team, and what she could eventually be. Now, in the final year of that extension, she has become a two-time All-Star and has led her team, just two hours from her Ohio hometown, to the playoffs.
“I look forward to hopefully a really good run for us in the playoffs,” Mitchell said. “So I’m excited about the 20 wins, I’m grateful. I know where I started. I know where I’m at now.”
RIGHT: Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull (10) rushes up the court against Dallas Wings center Stephanie Soares (10) on Sept. 15, 2024, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
GRACE HOLLARS / INDYSTAR
from the sidelines at Gainbridge
Sept. 15, 2024.
LEFT: Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides kneels down while watching the game
