No, this was not the fantastical introduction to the professional ranks for Caitlin Clark. Certainly not the bender of basketball bliss a segment of her legion was hoping to be hungover from at some point this weekend.
But rooks don’t get to jump over stuff.
Her first two games might feel like a letdown, especially Thursday’s epic home opener with the Indiana Fever. The moment was big enough for history to pull up to the venue. Sports’ latest transcendent figure created a buzz in Gainbridge Fieldhouse rivaling the New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers series.
Then the New York Liberty shut down the party, and Breanna Stewart destroyed any delusions that a rookie might be the WNBA’s best player.
But Clark will be fine. Just fine. This is just the first of many hard parts. A great game is coming. More bad ones, too. But it’s necessary. You can’t climb a mountain if it’s smooth.
Sabrina Ionescu talks about Caitlin Clark’s adjustment to the WNBA and hosting her on a visit to Oregon when she was deciding where to go to college
“I just know she’s gonna continue to work really hard and stick with it. Good things will happen to good people.” pic.twitter.com/thI8tDfs4C
— New York Liberty Videos (@SNYLiberty) May 17, 2024
The only question is whether the fans she’s brought to women’s basketball will allow her this. Clark has talked about giving herself grace. If it wasn’t a coded message to her masses, it should be received as such. She probably won’t be deterred by unrealistic expectations propped on her shoulders. But it can make the climb harder. That’s what she wants, though.
All hoopers, real hoopers, share this trait. Those groomed on inner-city blacktops, in sparkling suburban gymnasiums, at specialized academies in Australia, on dirt courts beneath rural skies. Among their commonalities is this universal truth: They embrace what’s hard. They’re motivated by the degree of difficulty. As long as success is possible in the confines of their delusional confidence, hoopers are game for the smoke. Real hoopers. They want a hill to conquer. It’s how they confirm their conviction of greatness.
That’s why Clark will be fine. We already know she is a real hooper. She’s long revealed that essence.
She could be somewhere chilling right now. Cashing in her celebrity, growing her brand before a farewell tour of a season at Iowa. Courtesy of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility allowance for the pandemic, she could’ve gone back to her comfort zone in college. Yet, she opted for this. To be hounded by a more athletic DiJonai Carrington. To be smothered by a bigger Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. To face traps and double teams and hard fouls. To get her bearings under the weight of her enormous fan base and mercurial fame.
To take her lumps. To risk disappointment.
It might take some time to find her stride, especially because she wants to win more than she wants to dazzle. But she’s not set up to be the same Clark who seized the nation.
First off, the Fever’s schedule is brutal to start. Their next two games are rematches against New York on Saturday and Connecticut on Monday, two teams which Indiana lost to by a combined 57 points. That’s followed by a three-game roadie at Seattle, Los Angeles and defending champion Las Vegas. That’s a far cry from Fairleigh Dickinson, Northern Iowa and Purdue-Fort Wayne to warm up against early in the season.
Plus, Clark is already garnering the peak focus of much better defenders.
Her debut was a dance with Carrington, a 5-foot-11 hound who is in the league to harass ballhandlers (and who is good enough at it she doesn’t mess up her perfect makeup in the process). Clark’s home debut was a date with Laney-Hamilton, a vet in every sense. She played for eight teams in six years, including four overseas, before breaking out with the Liberty in 2021. She’s got at least 15 pounds on Clark and a decade of hard-nose hoops under her belt dating back to her Rutgers days. Another real hooper who was determined to be felt by Clark.
Both were picking her up full court or face-guarding Clark in the half court.
Dijonai Carrington is putting the clamps on Caitlin Clark 🔒 pic.twitter.com/pGQ7MlXIqb
— ESPN (@espn) May 15, 2024
Clark is still learning the offense, which is not centered on her. The Fever play inside out, posting up Aliyah Boston or whoever has the size advantage, looking to draw in the defense for the kick out. It’s not the offense I’d run with Clark as my point guard. But this is part of it, too.
Clark’s record 40.1 percent usage rate in college — meaning she…