Caitlin Clark still goes to the grocery store.
She still likes to go out and buy candles, especially fall spice-scented ones.
And, no, she does not have a chaffeur picking up food for her.
Amid all the fame and fortune that has followed the Fever superstar, Clark maintained she’s still just an average 22-year-old from Iowa navigating her way through life.
Caitlin Clark dribbles during a Sept. 19, 2024 game against the Mystics.Getty Images
“I don’t feel famous. I don’t feel like a celebrity, so that’s not the way I approach my life and approach people in my life,” Clark said Thursday night, as captured by Fieldhouse Files.
“I feel like that’s why people can connect with me because I feel like I’m real and authentic to them and try to be as normal as possible. I never try to seem superior to somebody. I just try to be somebody that loves playing basketball and loves bringing people joy and I feel very fortunate to do that.”
Clark peeled back the curtain a bit to detail her entry into the athletic superstar realm on the day of her final regular-season WNBA game from her historic rookie season.
The former Iowa star has brought record crowds to the WNBA and has seemingly been under the spotlight all season long, whether for her play or the reactions she elicited from fans and players.
Clark finished her rookie season tied for seventh by averaging 19.2 points per game, while adding 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists to help lead the Fever to the No. 6 seed.
Along the way, there’s been some much-scrutinized interactions with opposing players along with an ever-chronicled rivalry with the Sky’s Angel Reese.
Clark said she’s proud of how she’s managed to stay focused amid all the outside noise.
Clark signs a ball for a fan.AP
“Obviously, this last year of my life, whether it was college or the WNBA, I’ve definitely been in the spotlight,” Clark said. “I feel like just keeping my mind right at all times is definitely hard when you’re 21, 22 years old and you’re doing this and everyone has an opinion on you. but I think for myself, what I’m most proud of is I’m really good at blocking that out, like I don’t really care what people think of me. I care about what my teammates think of me, I care of what my coaches think of me, I care about how my family feels about me, how my friends feel about me in the close circle that I have.”
Teammate Erica Wheeler praised Clark for how she’s navigated her first season, which continues Sunday, when the Clark open their first-round playoff series against the Sun in Connecticut.
“All we do is have fun with Caitlin Clark who never takes anything seriously,” Wheeler said. “I tell people all the time she’s really a kid at heart. … There’s moments where we need to be serious and we are serious, but a majority of the time, we’re having fun. Because you gotta understand, the outside world was really trying to get inside this building, we just didn’t let it.
“And having fun is a great way to kinda keep that out.”
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