Only seven rookies have ever earned All-WNBA First Team honors. Could Caitlin Clark make it eight?
Clark is a shoo-in to make at least one of the two All-WNBA teams. She faces stiff competition for the First Team, though. The voting is done irrespective of position, so Clark simply needs to be considered one of the best five players in the league to make the cut.
First Team All-WNBA contenders box score statistics
Caitlin Clark
19.2
5.7
8.4
Napheesa Collier
20.4
9.7
3.4
Breanna Stewart
20.4
8.5
3.5
Alyssa Thomas
10.6
8.4
7.9
Sabrina Ionescu
18.2
4.4
6.2
A’ja Wilson
26.9
11.9
2.3
Caitlin Clark’s case for First Team All-WNBA
A’ja Wilson has been the best player in the league and is a lock to be a First Team selection. That leaves four open spots, and there are a number of talented players who will be fighting over them.
With respect to great seasons from Kahleah Copper, Jonquel Jones, Kayla McBride, Nneka Ogwumike and Arike Ogunbowale, the top contenders for those other four spots are Clark, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and Sabrina Ionescu.
Here’s how their box score stats compare:
Out of that pool of players, Collier and Stewart have probably been the second and third-best behind Wilson. Both will be in strong contention for All-Defensive honors and both have averaged more points per game than anyone else on the list. Their teams are also No. 1 and 2 in the standings. Their cases are airtight.
Clark should take that No. 4 spot. She has been the best passer in the league. She broke the record for assists in a single game with 19. She also laid claim to the all-time season total with 329 assists.
Clark’s scoring is just as impressive. Her 19.2 points per game is the fourth-highest total of that group. What makes that even more valuable is her true shooting. She’s been the most efficient high-volume scorer behind Wilson.
Making Clark’s efficiency even more impressive is the sheer degree of difficulty with which she’s taken those shots. Nobody has come even close to Clark’s 227 attempts from beyond 25 feet. She has brought the logo 3 to the WNBA and teams haven’t figured out a way to stop it. She’s also faced constant defensive pressure, getting double-teamed at a very high rate.
Clark’s Fever haven’t had the same team success as Ionescu’s No. 1-seeded Liberty or Thomas’ No. 3-seeded Sun, but she has taken her Fever team from a 13-27 bottom-dweller a year ago to a 20-20 record and the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2016. That improvement is squarely on her shoulders and shouldn’t be discounted.
Ionescu and Thomas have had killer seasons as well, but they have struggled since the Olympic break while Clark has thrived. When the games have mattered the most during the late-season playoff seeding race, Clark delivered.
All of these arguments don’t even take into account the massive impact that Clark has had on the entire league. Ratings and ticket sales have skyrocketed in large part due to the Caitlin Clark effect. She has helped take the WNBA mainstream, to the point where their viewership numbers are growing close to the NBA’s.
There have been some issues with Clark’s rookie season that do drag her down a bit. She broke multiple turnover records, and she does need to clean that up. She’s also not near the level of defenders as some of the other top players in the league.
Despite those flaws, Clark has at worst the fourth-best season of this group. It’s a remarkable feat for a 22-year-old rookie, and she is going to continue to rise up the list of best players in the league.
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