Updated May 1, 2026, 4:55 p.m. CT<\/p>\n
Ahead of the WNBA tipping off its 30th regular season on May 7, ESPN released its top 50 players<\/a> for the 2026 campaign. Caitlin Clark was moved in the ranking from No. 4 in the preseason last year<\/a> to No. 10 in the preseason top 50 player rankings this year.<\/p>\n Though her 2025 campaign was injury-riddled, it’s still a bit of a puzzling spot considering her superstar pedigree and global reputation.<\/p>\n This ranking places Clark behind A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Allisha Gray, Paige Bueckers and Kelsey Plum.<\/p>\n Here is what Kareem Copeland had to say about Clark’s placement on the list, and how ESPN views the Iowa<\/a> women’s basketball legend entering this season:<\/p>\n Clark received the fourth-most MVP votes as a rookie while setting a single-season league record for assists and posting the second-most 3-point field goals in a season. She became one of the league’s best passers and long-range shooters the moment she stepped onto a WNBA court, and was just getting started when she was named Rookie of the Year and first-team all-WNBA in 2024. Injuries limited her to only 13 games in 2025, but she was still named an All-Star. – Kareem Copeland, ESPN<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Clark will try to prove the network wrong when the Fever open the 2026 regular season on Saturday, May 9 in front of a national audience on ION against the Dallas Wings from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n Contact\/Follow us\u00a0@HawkeyesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Scout on X:\u00a0@SpringgateNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated May 1, 2026, 4:55 p.m. CT Ahead of the WNBA tipping off its 30th regular season on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[159202,49,48,82,187461,187462,163753,191813,179870,161035,163636,218710,165966,162521,163020,178098,160676,162523,163021,180462,187465,180463,179876,170010,161039,187464,159095,161036,163023,187466,159089,162524,161043,161041,159085,630],"class_list":["post-641881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-accessfree","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-sstssportscollegehawkeyeswomens-basketball","tag-sstsnwomens-basketball","tag-tagaja-wilson","tag-tagallisha-gray","tag-tagalyssa-thomas","tag-tagbasketball","tag-tagbig-10-hub","tag-tagbig-ten-conference-womens-basketball","tag-tagbreanna-stewart","tag-tagcaitlin-clark","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagdallas-wings","tag-tagespn-inc","tag-tagfacebook","tag-tagindiana-fever","tag-tagiowa","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes-womens-basketball","tag-tagjackie-young","tag-tagkelsey-plum","tag-tagnapheesa-collier","tag-tagncaa-big-ten-conference","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpaige-bueckers","tag-tagsabrina-ionescu","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtwitter","tag-tagwnba","tag-tagwomens-sports","tag-typestory","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}