The popularity of women’s basketball, and women’s sports in general, has skyrocketed in 2024, and there’s no doubt that Caitlin Clark can be thanked for that.
Clark wasn’t just the most popular female athlete during the past 12 monthsTime named her their Athlete of the Year, a title that has been won worldwide in recent years by stars such as Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods.
Clark entered the year at the end of her record-breaking college ball career. As a senior at Iowa, she was months removed from losing the national championship to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, where Reese’s “You Can’t See Me” taunt was the unofficial start of a rivalry both on and off the field ( although Clark himself will tell you there is no such thing between them).
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever talks to the media during an introductory press conference on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
In any case, the gesture sparked a lot of discussion, which culminated in further culture wars this summer with Clark as a WNBA player. However, she had not succeeded set the NCAA record (both men and women) for most points scored in a college career and another national championship appearance.
By April, she was the No. 1 overall pick and almost as soon as she stepped onto a WNBA field, the conversation began about whether her popularity was due to her race. In fact, it was a claim made by WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, saying Clark was a white man “big thing” when it came to Clark’s popularity.
But all season long, Clark was able to block out the off-court noise about her, even when it seemed like she was being attacked on the court by her opponents. Crackdowns came amid accusations of racism from both Indiana Fever and Iowa fans, it was claimed by the aforementioned Reese.
But Clark had reiterated time and time again that she was focused on basketball, and that certainly seemed to be the case. In her rookie season, she not only broke rookie records, even WNBA records now bear Clark’s name.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts during a first-round WNBA basketball playoff game against the Sun, Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Clark’s performances in games brought historic viewership at both the college and pro levels. The last three games of her college career were the most watched women’s basketball games ever. She also had some of her regular season games more viewers than WNBA playoff gamesand her WNBA matchups with Reese were some of the most watched WNBA games ever.
WNBA teams even had to move to larger arenas simply because of the ticket demand that Clark attracted; the fever sold 90 times more tickets last year than in 2023.
Clark was mentioned Rookie of the Year for her historic campaign in which she set the record for most assists in a single season in league history. She carried the Fever to a playoff appearance after a slow start and she quickly became a double-double machine. She even set a single-game record with 19 assists. She also became the first rookie to record a triple-double, recording two.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever celebrates during the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 24, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena in California. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
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She received the most votes for the All-Star Game and was only the fifth rookie in league history to make the All-WNBA first team.
Needless to say, Clark is well on her way to an illustrious career, and even more impressive is what she did this year with all the outside noise.
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