After four games, and four losses, the start of the season for Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever has been a mixed bag.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are four games into the 2024 WNBA season, and through four losses — all against semifinalists from last year’s playoffs — the product has been a mixed bag.
The Fever dropped their first two games, against the Connecticut Sun and the New York Liberty, by a combined 57 points, the largest point deficit in WNBA history for a team through its initial pair of games. Clark scored 20 points in her debut but also struggled with foul trouble and had 10 turnovers. In her second game, she was held to single-digit scoring for the first time since her freshman year of college, as Indiana fell by 36.
But the tide began to turn for Clark and the Fever in rematches against New York and Connecticut, culminating in a near upset of the Sun in Indianapolis on Monday. Indiana started slowly against Connecticut but roared back to take a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter, before ultimately letting it slip away.
Clark, who left Monday’s contest in the second quarter after twisting her left ankle, returned to finish with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. But most notably, the Fever as a whole began to operate like a unit, with Indiana’s comeback starting when Clark was on the bench and Kelsey Mitchell (17 points), NaLyssa Smith (13), Temi Fagbenle (11) and Aliyah Boston (10) all finishing in double figures, as well.
One play early in the fourth quarter best captured the Fever’s potentially bright future: Boston blocked a DeWanna Bonner layup and fed the ball to Erica Wheeler, who delivered it to Clark for a 33-foot 3-pointer to give Indiana the lead and send Gainbridge Fieldhouse into a tizzy.
The Fever are 0-4 — their fourth such start in franchise history and first since 2021 — but they made a statement Monday that more likely than not they won’t be bottom-feeders for long.
ESPN’s Michael Voepel, Kevin Pelton and Alexa Philippou assess the struggles and strengths of Clark’s pro career through four games — and what’s to come from her and the Fever.
Voepel: She has done what could be reasonably expected. The Fever’s tough schedule to start the season meant Clark would immediately be facing not just playoff-level opponents but the top tier of those teams. During some moments, she looked a little uncomfortable. In others, she seems to be gaining confidence. The magnifying glass on her is enormous, but the actual performances examined through the prism of reality have been the overall positive mixed bag almost any top rookie has early on in a pro sports career.
It’s not too late to play! Sign up now for Fantasy Women’s Basketball and start your championship run.
Sign up for free!
Pelton: Improving. I was more optimistic than most WNBA analysts about Clark’s rookie potential based on what we’ve seen from generational No. 1 picks in the past. Still, the time it took the most recent high-scoring guards drafted with the top pick (Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum) to develop into WNBA stars tempered those expectations. Clark’s first four games have looked a lot like Ionescu’s abbreviated three-game rookie season, which featured a 33-point game but also more turnovers than assists. Clark’s scoring has come around the past two outings. Now, she must cut down on her turnovers.
Philippou: A lot of the reaction toward her early games said more about the expectations themselves (and whether they were realistic in the first place) than about Clark and her potential. It isn’t a given for top picks (particularly guards) to come into the league and dominate in year one, let alone four games in.
