The No. 1 overall selection in this year’s WNBA Draft was never in doubt. On Monday night, it became official.
The Indiana Fever selected sharp-shooting Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark with the first pick in Monday night’s draft at Brooklyn Academy of Music a little over a week after Clark’s record-setting collegiate career ended with a title game loss to unbeaten South Carolina.
“Many teams are loaded with so much talent,” Clark said about the WNBA. “This is the most competitive league in the entire world. Less than 144 spots. You better bring it every single night. I think that’s exactly how I loved my college career, too. It’s like every single game no matter what the opponent was I prepped the exact same way. I prepare the same way.”
After Clark’s selection, the Los Angeles Sparks selected Cameron Brink with the second overall pick. The franchise also used the fourth overall pick to select Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson.
South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso went third to the Chicago Sky. Jacy Sheldon (Dallas), Aaliyah Edwards (UConn), Angel Reese (Chicago), Alissa Pili (Minnesota), Carla Leite (Dallas) and Leila Lacan (Connecticut) went Nos. 5-10, respectively.
Clark, 22, who became the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader (3,951 points in passing Kelsey Plum and Pete Maravich) in her senior season with the Hawkeyes, now looks to continue her hoop dreams in the WNBA.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert — along with the rest of the basketball world — knew whose name would be inside the envelope as the Fever’s top selection. After hearing her name, Clark hugged her family and then took to the stage in front of about 1,000 cheering fans. It was the first time fans attended the event since the 2016 draft that took place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
Clark now joins Aliyah Boston — last year’s No. 1 overall pick — on a team that finished last in the Eastern Conference with 13-27 record in 2023. Boston, the cornerstone piece in Indiana, unanimously won last season’s Rookie of the Year award. The 13 wins is a jump from the 5-31 season the team endured in 2022. Boston helped with that improvement. Now, Clark will join the mix.
“Obviously Aliyah Boston,” Clark said when asked who she’s excited to play with. The rookie also mentioned she is excited to compete with Erica Wheeler. “I mean, there’s so much you can say about [Boston], Rookie of the Year. In my eyes, one of the best players in the league. And like I said, as a point guard, my biggest job — I’m just getting Aliyah the ball every single game.”
Clark, who averaged 31.6 points per game as a senior, will stretch the floor for the Fever and certainly will be a key piece in Indiana’s rebuild. Her eye-popping shot-making overshadows her ability as a playmaker, which will bode well in her transition to the WNBA. Clark averaged 8.9 assists in her time as a Hawkeye and her addition to the Fever creates a lethal pick-and-roll duo with Boston.
“I think the biggest thing is definitely my passing,” she said. “I think sometimes that kinda gets overlooked in my game. I think the scoring and the longshots is what everybody falls in love with.”
Boston, who averaged 14.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in her rookie season, will now have a young playmaking running mate in the backcourt in hopes to soon end the Fever’s seven-year playoff drought. Fever head coach Christie Sides will now have decisions to make on playing time. No. 1 pick Clark joins a backcourt that already includes 27-year-old Kelsey Mitchell, who lead the team with 18.2 points per game. Wheeler scored just 9.9 points per game while leading the team in assists (5.0).
