Is Caitlin Clark the best WNBA Rookie of the Year ever?

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark capped off a near-perfect opening season by securing the WNBA Rookie of the Year award on October 3rd.

Clark got 66 of 67 votes from the professional sports writers in America, with long-time rival Angel Reese securing the other ballot.

Clark has taken the league to the next level since being drafted first overall at the 2024 WNBA Draft. Even draft viewership grew from 572,000 viewers in 2023 to 2.45 million in 2024, The Washington Post reports.

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During her first month in the WNBA, the Los Angeles Sparks (19,103), New York Liberty (17,735), and Seattle Storm (18,343) all set attendance records when the Fever came to town.

The Sparks, Washington Mystics, Las Vegas Aces, and Atlanta Dream had to move to bigger stadiums to accommodate public interest in Clark. The Fever guard has set WNBA viewership marks on ESPN, Ion, and NBA TV.

Having been the primary catalyst in substantially growing the WNBA this season, Clark had to do the talking on the court to keep people interested and entertained. The guard had a record-breaking first year in the league.

She started all 40 regular-season games for the Fever and helped them to a .500 record of 20 wins and 20 losses. The Fever reached the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2016.

ESPN reports Clark averaged 19.2 points, a WNBA-best 8.4 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game. She led all rookies in all categories besides rebounding, where Angel Reese finished top (13.1).

Clark has the most assists in WNBA history in a single season (337), making her the WNBA assists leader this campaign. Her 19 assists against the Dallas Wings in July is a WNBA single-game record.

Along with the assists records, Sportsnet reports Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to hit 100 three-pointers, accomplishing the feat in 34 games. She is also the first-ever rookie to record 100 three-pointers in a season (122).

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Her 122 three-pointers in the regular season put her first in threes scored. The Fever guard was second in minutes played in the regular season and had a free-throw percentage of 90.6%. She was seventh in scoring.

However, she wasn't done there. Clark scored the most points in a season in franchise history (769) and was the first-ever rookie to record a triple-double in WNBA history.

Clark was a four-time Rookie of the Month, a three-time Eastern Conference Player of the Week, and received the most WNBA All-Star votes ever (+700,000).

Candace Parker's Rookie year in 2008 might be the only season that could rival Clark's historic year in 2024. Parker won the Rookie of the Year award unanimously and the WNBA MVP award in the same season.

Parker, who was playing for the Los Angeles Sparks, averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game. She led the Sparks to the Western Conference Finals and won Olympic gold with Team USA in Beijing.

What do you think? Is Caitlin Clark the greatest WNBA Rookie of the Year ever, or is someone like Candace Parker a more valid candidate? Let us know!

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