Will we ever get a fair assessment of Caitlin Clark?<\/p>\n
From her first season in the national spotlight as an Iowa freshman, there were politics involved. Paige Bueckers won National Player of the Year off the hype surrounding her entering the season, while Clark averaged 6.6 more points, 1.3 more assists and one more rebound in a far more competitive conference. Yes, Bueckers was more efficient, but it\u2019s hard to argue that Clark was given a fair shake.<\/p>\n
Clark was firing away her deep 3s in that freshman season of 2020-21, yet somehow it wasn\u2019t until later that all the hype shifted from Bueckers to her, and, when it did, it grossly ignored the rest of the players in the world, unfairly putting Clark on a pedestal as the greatest player of all time before she had even accomplished anything at the professional level.<\/p>\n
Her rookie season in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever proved that she was not the best player in the world\u2014not yet. Instead it was A\u2019ja Wilson, who put forth a campaign for the ages en route to winning her third MVP. Clark finished fourth in voting for the award after averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 boards on 41.7 percent shooting from the field, 34.4 percent from 3 (122 makes) and 90.6 percent from the free throw line. Wilson averaged a WNBA-record 26.9 points to go along with 11.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks on 51.8 percent shooting from the field and 84.4 percent from the stripe, while finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.<\/p>\n
Somehow, Clark was the betting favorite to win MVP entering 2025 despite Wilson being in the heart of her prime at age 28 and coming off the greatest individual season in league history. The hype machine had gone too far\u2014again.<\/p>\n
As a senior at Iowa, Clark had drawn a record audience of 18.9 million viewers to the 2024 national championship game. That was more viewers than any NBA or men\u2019s college basketball game since 2019. She continued to shatter viewership records on draft night and throughout the 2024 WNBA season, and the women\u2019s basketball community should be appreciative of the increased attention she has brought to the sport.<\/p>\n
But she should not overshadow the rest of the talent.<\/p>\n
In 2026, people seem to have come to their senses and realized that she has to actually earn the best-player-in-the-world title. But are they now being too hard on her?<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, she was unable to be at her best in 2025, as nagging injuries limited her to 16.5 points per game, 36.7 percent shooting from the field and 27.9 percent shooting from 3 in just 13 games. It\u2019s not fair to use that season as a data point suggesting that she won\u2019t ever live up to the extraordinary expectations placed on her.<\/p>\n