Caitlin Clarks The WNBA rookie season was one for the record books, but she also remembers the moment she knew she was in pro ball.
Her “welcome to the WNBA” moment.
Appearing on the latest podcast “New Heights” with Travis and Jason Kelce, Clark was asked about the moment she was welcomed by colleagues WNBA players.
She knew the answer immediately.
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Caitlin Clark, 22, of the Indiana Fever argues with a referee during the second half of a game against the Washington Mystics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, June 19, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
“Someone put a screen on me, and I hit my ear right on the girl where my eardrum popped. And it ruptured,” Clark said of her Fever match against the New York Liberty on June 2. “I knew right away because I’ve done it before (while tubing in a lake). It hurts so much… That was my welcome to the W moment.”
Clark said that although her ear wasn’t bleeding, her hearing hadn’t been the same for a few weeks.
“It takes months to heal,” Clark added. “So after the season the doctor had to go back and forth to see if it closed. And if it didn’t close, you had to have a little procedure. But luckily it did close. So I was fine.”
The Liberty’s 104–68 loss to the Fever was Clark’s eleventh game of her rookie season.
The injury occurred in the fourth quarter of the blowout and Clark received the attention of trainers on the bench before having to walk back to the Barclays Center locker room in Brooklyn, New York.
Former Iowa Hawkeye and current Indiana Fever WNBA star Caitlin Clark is honored during a game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Northwestern Wildcats at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, October 26, 2024. (Jeffrey Becker-Imagn images)
Clark missed the rest of the game.
“I don’t want to explain it. It would probably be pretty gross. But no, I feel fine,” Clark told reporters at the time of the injury. “I can’t hear well out of either of my ears.”
The injury did not stop Clark from breaking a number of records, including most assists in a season.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark charges onto the field during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on July 12, 2024. (Grace Hollars/IndyStar/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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Clark was named Time’s Athlete of the Year and the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. She was also named a WNBA All-Star for the first time.
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