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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was named WNBA rookie of the year on Thursday, the league announced, confirming a media report from nearly a week ago.
Clark overwhelmingly beat out Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, whom she faced twice in the NCAA tournament, in a poll of 67 sportswriters and broadcasters. The 22-year-old guard received 66 first-place votes while Reese received one. The WNBA does not make public the names of award voters and their selections, and voters were asked to select a single rookie of the year winner rather than to rank a list of top candidates.
Clark was previously named the Associated Press’s rookie of the year in unanimous fashion late last month.
Clark averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game in 40 appearances as a rookie, leading the WNBA in assists while setting rookie records for points and three-pointers. She also paced the league in all-star votes, finished fourth in MVP voting, earned first-team all-WNBA honors and guided the Fever to its first playoff appearance since 2016, all while driving record television viewership, attendance figures and merchandise sales.
Clark set a WNBA single-season record with 337 assists. She also established WNBA single-season rookie records of 769 points and 122 three-pointers made.
The Fever (20-20) earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2016 and improved their win total by seven games over last season.
The 2024 No. 1 pick became the third Fever player to win rookie of the year, joining teammate Aliyah Boston (2023) and Hall of Fame guard Tamika Catchings (2002). Clark was also the third consecutive No. 1 overall pick to claim the award after Boston and Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard (2022).
“Thank you to the many people who have supported me as I’ve been able to live my childhood dream,” Clark wrote on social media Wednesday, before the award was officially announced. “I’m filled with gratitude as I reflect on this past year of my life. See you all in year two.”
Clark and Reese, who faced off in the 2023 NCAA national championship game and the 2024 Elite Eight, were painted as award rivals by television talking heads and social media users for much of the season. While Clark was a two-time Naismith Award winner, Reese’s LSU Tigers defeated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes for the 2023 championship in a matchup that solidified both players as household names. The following year, Iowa defeated LSU en route to its second straight appearance in the national championship game.
Reese, 22, averaged 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, and she registered a league-best 26 double-doubles in her 34 appearances, including a record 15 in a row. After earning all-star honors and setting a rookie record for total rebounds, the 2024 No. 7 pick suffered a wrist injury that sidelined her for Chicago’s final six games. Meanwhile, the Sky lost 12 of its final 14 games to fall out of the playoffs.
Clark and the sixth-seeded Fever were swept out of the first round 2-0 by the third-seeded Connecticut Sun in Connecticut.
Additional highlights of Clark’s 2024 regular season, per WNBA:
- Recorded the first two triple-doubles by a rookie in WNBA history–19 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists against New York on July 6; and 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sept. 4.
- Set a WNBA single-game record with 19 assists against the Dallas Wings on July 17.
- Became the first WNBA rookie to have at least 30 points and 10 assists in a game (31 points and 12 assists against Chicago on Aug. 30).
- Posted 14 games with at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists and eight games with at least 20 points and 10 assists – both WNBA single-season highs.
- Averaged 24.7 points and 9.3 assists in her first 10 games after the Paris Olympics break–an 8-2 stretch for Indiana that featured its first five-game winning streak since 2015.
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