Mark Montieth: Caitlin Clark is transcendent

The WNBA is on vacation, taking a nearly monthlong pause while some of its elite players participate in the Olympic Games. Surely nobody needs that break more than Caitlin Clark, who in 26 games with the Indiana Fever has viewed life from the eye of a relentless hurricane.

Clark hasn’t had a meaningful vacation from basketball for about nine months, so it should come as no surprise that she greeted this one giddily following the July 20 exhibition game between an all-star team of WNBA players and the Olympic team.

“I honestly can’t wait to not touch a basketball for a while,” she said.

Can’t blame her. The basketball alone has been exhausting enough but has been only half of her story. She jumped from leading Iowa to the championship game of the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season to the WNBA draft to the start of Fever training camp all within 23 days. Since then, until July 20 at least, she has been busy becoming the most significant player in WNBA history, if not all of women’s basketball, and the most impactful rookie in the history of professional sports in Indianapolis.

It’s exhausting, being a revolutionary. And Clark, with no hint of being rebellious, is just that.

It would have been impossible for her to live up to the hype that awaited her when the Fever made her the first pick of the WNBA draft in April, but she’s come close. She hit the break averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.5 steals. She hits the occasional “logo three” from 25 feet or more and is perhaps the league’s best passer, finding seams in defenses that others don’t see. She already has produced the first triple-double by a Fever player and WNBA rookie and set a league record with 19 assists in another game.

She was an overnight sensation before even playing a game, however, thanks to her career at Iowa, where she became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer—men or women—and was voted national player of the year after leading her team to the championship game of the NCAA tournament as a junior and senior. The Fever’s average attendance through their 11 home games before the break was 16,898, which is on pace to set a WNBA record. Last season, they averaged about 4,000 per game. It would be absurd not to believe Clark is virtually the sole reason for the sudden avalanche of humanity flowing through Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Pacers, by the way, averaged 16,526 fans over their regular season, which they finished 47-35.

The Fever are drawing massive crowds on the road as well, despite their losing record, and 38 of their games will be nationally televised by season’s end. Again, Clark is the X factor.

Driving force

Her impact goes beyond the eyeballs she attracts, however. The WNBA recently signed a $2.2 billion (with a b) rights deal that will triple league revenue, and salaries will skyrocket accordingly. The minimum, for example, will jump from $57,000 to about $200,000. And while other great players have entered the league this season, Clark is the driving force behind the rising tide lifting the boats.

Clark’s debut has not been without controversy. Some WNBA players and analysts have resented her popularity and doubted her ability. She’s taken a few cheap shots on the court, as well, to test her physical toughness. It hasn’t seemed to faze her and is a questionable tactic given her financial impact on the league.

As broadcast commentator Colin Cowherd said, “They’re trying to get her to pay her dues, but she’s the one paying all the fees.”

Judi Warren knows a little about blazing trails. She captured the public’s fancy in 1976 when she led Warsaw to the championship of the first state high school tournament for girls’ teams and followed by becoming the inaugural Miss Basketball. She chuckles at any comparison to Clark but appreciates the impact she’s having.

“I think she just plays with determination and a positive attitude and is constantly working to get better and make her teammates better,” said Warren, who has followed Clark closely on television. “People just appreciate how hard she plays.

“She sees the floor well and knows where to deliver the ball. She’s out there for the right reasons, to try and win ballgames and give people a show and play team basketball. But when the game’s on the line, she’s the one who wants the ball.

“The love she has for the game pours out of her.”

Social media reflects Clark’s popularity, for better and for worse.

She has 424,780 X (formerly Twitter) followers. The only former or current Pacer with more is Reggie Miller, with 832,800. The Pacers’ All-Star and Olympian, Tyrese Haliburton, has 177,200. Tamika Catchings, easily the greatest player in Fever history, league MVP, four-time Olympian and Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, has 79,200.

Ironic, then, that Clark barely uses the outlet. She has a pinned tweet thanking Iowa fans for their support. On July 20, she informed the world that she enjoyed her experience with the All-Star team and was looking forward to time off. Her most recent post before that was on July 9. Before that, it was May 21. Every post is a thank you, a word of praise or a retweet of an announcement of an endorsement.

X goes wild

Some opponents have “face-guarded” Clark during games, shadowing her every move even when the ball isn’t in play. The internet is doing much the same thing digitally. Off-brand accounts look for every opportunity to insert her name and photo into a story, no matter how mundane, for the cause of clicks.

Something called Next Impulse Sports posted an article with the headline, “Team USA legend does not hold back on loss to Caitlin Clark.” It noted Clark’s participation in the exhibition game against the Olympians last weekend. Clark scored just four points in the game, but somehow the Olympic team’s loss was to her. It went on to report that Olympic veteran Diana Taurasi was unhappy about her team’s performance and told her teammates so in an impromptu huddle on the court after the game. Taurasi did not mention Clark, yet Clark made the headline.

Athlon Sports seems obsessed with Clark. It put up six Clark-related tweets in a 90-minute window on Monday, none of which would have been newsworthy involving anyone else. Some headlines:

◗ “Caitlin Clark’s All-Star game grade from Rachel Nichols has fans up in arms”

◗ “Caitlin Clark’s wordless response to Iowa teammate Gabbie Marshall’s huge announcement speaks volumes”

◗ “Brittney Griner’s puzzled reaction to Caitlin Clark’s unbelievable pass in WNBA All-Star game says it all”

◗ “WNBA All-Star game MVP makes opinion of Caitlin Clark extremely clear”

There’s also the Clark Report, an X account with 17,400 followers devoted solely to “Caitlin Clark news and updates.”

Rapid rise

Indianapolis has never had a professional athlete inspire such fanatical scrutiny or affect ticket sales so directly, rookie or otherwise.

The most famous Pacer, Miller, was largely unknown to Midwestern fans coming out of UCLA. He had a quiet introduction to the NBA, starting just one game and averaging 10 points as a rookie.

The Colts have had two high-profile quarterbacks taken with the first overall pick in the NFL draft, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, but neither influenced attendance, souvenir sales or television contracts as directly as Clark has done.

There was a local athlete worthy of Clark-like hype this year, but he passed through town like a quiet tornado. Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 Major League Baseball draft, is regarded by many as the best pitching prospect of the past 15 years and is backing that with a 6-1 record for the otherwise mediocre Pittsburgh Pirates. He even started for the National League in the July 17 All-Star game.

Before becoming a Pirate, however, he was an Indian. In Indianapolis. He started seven games for them, throwing a total of 27-1/3 innings. Had a 0.99 earned run average, giving up just three earned runs, and struck out 45 of the 105 batters he faced.

He pitched in only four home games, though, before a combined total of 26,508 fans. If his rapid rise continues, many more than that no doubt will claim to have seen him here.

Clark is transcendent, drawing praise from male athletes “across the aisle.” LeBron James has weighed in with gushing praise, as has Haliburton. Former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, a recent Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, promoted her for Rookie of the Year after her 19-assist game just before the Olympic break. That game also inspired former NFL running back Le’Veon Bell to tweet, “I missed Michael Jordan’s prime, I will NOT miss Caitlin Clark’s.”

Former Pacers General Manager Donnie Walsh has taken note, as well.

“I immediately think of Steph Curry,” he said, referring to Golden State’s iconic guard, an obvious future hall of famer with unlimited shooting range. “That’s who she is.”

George Harrison, reflecting on Beatlemania in the ’60s, once said the group members remained calm while the world around them went mad. So it goes with Clark, who has handled every doubt and drummed-up controversy with a smile and a shrug. That’s part of her appeal, as well.

“She’s a normal person, and she’s a normal player,” Walsh said. “If I’m a mother, I’m telling my daughters, ‘Just be like her.’”

Be Like Caitlin. It doesn’t have quite the ring of Be Like Mike, the slogan for Michael Jordan’s Gatorade commercials. Clark, however, will never be out of the public eye for long, nor will she be out of endorsement opportunities. All of women’s basketball will be the better for it.•

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Montieth, an Indianapolis native, is a longtime newspaper reporter and freelance writer. He is the author of three books: “Passion Play: Coach Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers,” “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis,” and “Extra Innings: My Life in Baseball,” with former Indianapolis Indians President Max Schumacher.