The popularity of women’s basketball, and women’s sports in general, skyrocketed in 2024, and there’s no doubt you can thank Caitlin Clark for that.
Not only was Clark the most popular female athlete over the past 12 months, but Time named her Athlete of the Year, a title held by global stars such as Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods in recent years.
Clark entered the year at the end of his record-breaking collegiate career. As a senior at Iowa, he came within several months of losing the national championship to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, where Reese’s “You can’t see me” taunt was the unofficial start of a rivalry both on and off the court ( although Clark herself will tell you that there is no such thing between them).
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Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark speaks to the media during an introductory press conference on April 17, 2024 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)
In any case, the gesture sparked much discussion, which turned into more culture wars this summer with Clark as a WNBA player. That, however, did not come before she set the NCAA record (both men and women) for most points scored in a collegiate career and another national championship appearance.
In April, she was the number one overall pick and practically as soon as she stepped onto a WNBA court, the conversation began about whether her popularity was due to her race. In fact, it was a claim that WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson had made, saying that Clark being white was “a huge thing” when it came to Clark’s popularity.
However, throughout the season, Clark was able to block out the noise about what was being said about her off the court, even when it seemed like her opponents attacked her on the court. The hard fouls came amid accusations of racism from Indiana Fever and Iowa fans, a claim made by the aforementioned Reese.
But Clark had said time and time again that she was focused on basketball, and that seemed to be the case. In her rookie season, she not only broke rookie records, but even WNBA records now bear Clark’s name.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts during a first-round WNBA basketball playoff game against the Sun on Sept. 25, 2024, in Uncasville, Connecticut. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
CAITLIN CLARK’S REJECTION OF WHITE PRIVILEGE COMMENTS SHOWS THERE ARE ‘PROBLEMS WITH RACE’ IN US, SAYS WNBA GREAT
Clark’s game appearances brought a historic audience at both the college and professional levels. The final three games of her college career were the most-watched women’s college basketball games in history. She also had several of her regular season games attract more viewers than the WNBA playoff games, and her WNBA matchups with Reese were some of the most-watched WNBA games in history.
WNBA teams even had to move to larger stadiums simply because of the ticket demand that Clark attracted; The Fever sold 90 times more tickets last year than in 2023.
Clark was named Rookie of the Year for her historic campaign during which she set the record for most assists in a season in league history. He led the Fever to the playoffs after a slow start and quickly became a double-double machine. He even set a single-game record with 19 assists. She also became the first rookie to record a triple-double, recording two of them.
Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark celebrates during the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 24, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena in California. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
She received the most All-Star votes and was just the fifth rookie in league history to make the All-WNBA first team.
Needless to say, Clark is on his way to an illustrious career, and even more impressive is what he did this year with all the outside noise.
