Season over, Clark sees ‘what’s possible’ for Fever

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — As the clock ticked down on her rookie season, Caitlin Clark had one more 3-point heave in her to try to make an improbable comeback happen.

She pulled up from 27 feet, the Indiana Fever down six to the Connecticut Sun with 15 seconds left. The shot clanged off the back of the rim, bounced high in the air, hit the back iron and landed out of bounds.

That would be the last shot of her season, one that ended with an 87-81 loss to the Sun in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs Wednesday night. As the Sun celebrated their win, the Fever huddled briefly on the court. Clark was the first one into the tunnel, her long year of basketball over.

What a year it was: Clark started her senior year at Iowa at this time in 2023, filling raucous arenas from coast to coast while leaving her mark in the school and national record books, and setting television ratings records nearly weekly.

Without much time to reflect, she was chosen No. 1 in the WNBA draft, then took a team that had won 30 games combined over the previous four years to its first playoff berth since 2016. Though Wednesday night most certainly ended in disappointment — especially considering the Fever led with 2:05 left — Clark showed in her dazzling debut season that this is a team that is only just beginning its rise.

“It’s a good little taste of what’s possible for this organization and for this franchise,” Clark said. “There’s a lot for us to hold our heads high about. This team won five games two years ago. We’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing together. Sometimes the worst part of it is like you feel like you’re really playing your best basketball, and then it has to end.”

When the Fever drafted Clark, her presence alone sent expectations skyrocketing. But after a 1-8 start, a playoff run seemed impossible. It might have taken some time for the Fever to find their groove, but they did, behind Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and a face-paced offense that quickly became much more difficult to stop.

Clark ended up setting regular-season WNBA records for assists in a season (337), points scored or assisted on in a season (1,520), points by a rookie (769) and 3-point field goals by a rookie (122). Her ability to not only shoot but find her open teammates was on full display in the first two games of the playoffs. On Wednesday night, she scored or assisted on 45 points, the most by a rookie in a playoff game in WNBA history.

That she did it after playing a full college season that ended on April 7, with a loss in the national championship game to South Carolina, speaks to her natural talent.

But as Clark said after the game, “The fun part is I feel like I’m just scratching the surface, and I’m one that’s nitpicking every single thing I do. I know I want to help this franchise get even better, help my teammates get even better, and I know there’s a lot of room for me to continue to improve. So that’s what excites me the most. I feel like I could continue to get a lot better, and before we know it, I’m sure we’ll all be back here and ready for the next year.”

Fever coach Christie Sides sees all that potential, too, inside her own locker room. The team will have some decisions to make — general manager Lin Dunn said the team had already begun contract talks with Mitchell. Meanwhile, the future of NaLyssa Smith also seems up in the air; Temi Fagbenle replaced her in the starting lineup in Game 2.

But with Boston and Clark — back-to-back No. 1 picks — forming the young nucleus of the team, there is a solid foundation moving forward. Dunn talked about a three-year plan in getting the Fever back to the playoffs when she returned to the franchise in February 2022.

The new plan?

“The next timeline is playing for championships,” Dunn said. “That’s why I loved working for Pacer Sports and Entertainment and the Fever. We were all about winning. We were all about bringing great people into this franchise with a commitment to doing whatever we needed to do to be competitive, night in and night out. We expect this franchise to be competing for championships.”

There might be some history on their side, too. The three previous WNBA franchises to have back-to-back No. 1 picks went on to win a WNBA championship within four years. Not that anyone is counting.

As Sides put it: “We definitely have the pieces to have some great years ahead of us.”

What gave Sides even more pride in her team was that it had to fight more than a tough start this season. Clark has been in the spotlight for years now, but her addition to the WNBA has led to more personal attacks in various forms, from social media to in-person harassment.

In fact, Clark got into it with a fan in the first quarter, complaining to the officials. While it was unclear what the fan said, security pulled him off the floor and spoke with him before he was allowed back to his seat.

Earlier in the week, social media speculation ran rampant over whether DiJonai Carrington intentionally poked Clark in the eye, leaving behind a bruise. Both players denied it was intentional, but that did not stop it from becoming a talking point. In fact, the Sun posted a fingernail painting emoji on social media after their victory. This, of course, is not the first time this has happened. Any interaction between Clark and other players that turns physical is dissected ad nauseum.

Clark did not address the microscope she has been under for the past several years, but Sides defended her players postgame.

“It’s a lot of hurtful, hateful speech out there that’s happening, and it’s unacceptable,” Sides said. “This is basketball, and this is their job, and they’re doing the best they can. And when it gets personal to me, there’s no reason for it. These guys have to listen and watch — social media is their life. That’s just what they do. And they have to read and see these things constantly, and just all the stories that are made up of what people see or think they see. It is just not acceptable when it gets personal.”

Perhaps now that the season is over, there will be some time for reflection. As Clark said, “I feel like basketball has really consumed my life for a year. So I feel like it’ll be good for me to kind of reflect back on everything that’s happened.”

She has no plans to pick up a basketball in the coming weeks. But you might find her on a golf course somewhere in Indiana until the weather turns cold.

“I’ll become a professional golfer,” Clark said with a laugh.

“Not too much,” Boston said. “Keep it basketball.”