The recent run of WNBA records set by Caitlin Clark during her debut campaign with the Indiana Fever has come to an end. To be honest, they have been silent since the All-Star Game in Phoenix on July 20. Since then, the Fever have not practiced, and WNBA action is scheduled to resume in the middle of August.
With the Paris Olympics causing a lot of the league to be idle, we look at all the progress Clark has made in her 26 games as a professional. We also show you the records she can shatter when WNBA play resumes.
The WNBA records of Caitlin Clark
WNBA star Caitlin Clark gives teammates DeWanna Bonner and Kayla McBride a high five.
Let’s start with the obvious: in the last game before the All-Star break, Clark broke the WNBA single-game assist record with 19 points against the Dallas Wings. Of course, that will be the rookie line for many more years. Good luck, rooks of the future.
During the Fever’s home game against the Washington Mystics during the second week of July, Clark made league history by becoming the only player to ever score 25 points, dish out 10 or more assists, grab five or more rebounds, steal five or more steals, and make five 3-pointers. Oh, and she came within two blocks that day of becoming the second 5×5 player in league history. In 2008, Candace Parker did it.
In WNBA history, Clark already owns the most double-doubles of any rookie guard. When it comes to assists and points, she has recorded five straight double-doubles, second only to point guard Courtney Vandersloot of the New York Liberty, who has six. And not just rookies—all players have this streak. Clark’s only negative is that she’s already surpassed the record for turnover in a single season.
However, on July 20, Clark broke the record with ten assists in an All-Star Game. The Fever guard was just one assist away from tying the 2017 statline set by the legendary Sue Bird. Later on, Clark joked, “Bird can have it.” In keeping with the concept, Clark also achieved these milestones within the Fever organisation: (1) most assists in a single game (13), four times ahead of the 19. (2) leader in assists in a single season.
The fact that Clark recorded the first rookie triple-double in the first week of July has already been missed in this piece. Given that it was also the first in the Fever series, it complements the previous phrases. The fastest player to get it was Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty, not Clark. Her debut season was hindered by an injury. It was Ionescu’s sixth career game to nail it.
The quickest records set by Caitlin Clark
More connections exist between the two East guards. As the only WNBA players to record 85 points or more and 25 assists or more through their first five professional games, Clark joined Ionescu and Parker in this feat. In just 22 games, Clark became the fastest rookie to reach 350 points, 120 rebounds, and 150 assists. She surpassed Ionescu, who needed 30 games to reach that position, as the fastest in those three categories.
It should be noted that Clark has appeared in an outrageous 14 of the 16 games this season, which have attracted at least 1 million viewers for the WNBA. The most games in a WNBA season are those with that threshold audience. According to Sports Media Watch, the previous high was 15, which encompassed all three games of the WNBA Finals that year. There is such a thing as the Clark Effect.