Ranked: Time Magazine Athlete of the Year Caitlin Clark's best moments of 2024

As if Caitlin Clark's year couldn't get any better... Time Magazine named her Athlete of the Year in December 2024. It felt like the perfect way to cap what has been a historic 12 months.

Clark has taken the basketball world by storm, and 2024 is a year that neither she nor her fans will ever forget. It’s been full of accomplishments and records, which makes it challenging to narrow down her most notable. We’ll look at the top five moments of Caitlin Clark’s banner year—let us know what you think in the comments! All statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

We’ll start with the culmination of a dream for Caitlin Clark; reaching the professional ranks by officially being taken first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. She told ESPN, “I dreamed of this moment since I was in second grade. It’s taken a lot of hard work.”

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Even though it was a given Clark would be scooped up by Indiana with the first pick, a lot of people did not want to miss what felt like a historic moment. The 2024 WNBA Draft averaged 2.4 million viewers according to ESPN, which was an astronomical 238 percent increase from the year before.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told USA Today around draft time, “Is this our transformational moment that this isn’t just a spike? It’s the new normal. We’re going to embrace it. I think these players are going to embrace it, and I think that’s what happened back in the late 70’s and early 80’s with the NBA.”

As the number one pick, the expectation was that Caitlin Clark should end up as the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year. Clark matched those projections for herself and then some, ultimately claiming the end of the season award.

Clark said in a statement, “I am incredibly honored to be named Rookie of the Year, but more than that, I am grateful to everyone that supported me throughout this past season—my family and friends, my teammates the Fever organization and everyone that cheered us on all season.”

Clark’s sensational campaign made it a foregone conclusion that she was going to win the award, especially during Indiana’s second half of the season surge. The Fever star received every single vote except one, the latter of which was cast for Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky.

Caitlin Clark’s remarkable shooting ability sets her apart from nearly every other WNBA player, but her passing also adds to the special legacy she is creating. In her first season in the WNBA, Clark set the league’s single season record for assists with a total of 337.

Right after she was drafted, Clark was excited about the opportunity she had to set her teammates up. As captured by Yahoo Sports, she said, “My point guard eyes just light up at that,” when thinking about the prospects of playing with fellow former first overall pick Aliyah Boston. Boston said at the time, “I think for me it’s her ability, one, to run the floor but also be able to make those passes to teammates to find an open player.”

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Clark excels at distributing the basketball in a multitude of ways. Sporting News took a closer look at this in September 2024, by writing that she was proficient at “Nashing,” which refers to former NBA legend Steve Nash keeping his dribble alive around the rim. They also wrote that she was great at hook passes, outlet passes, and giving the ball up in a full sprint behind her back.

Fans couldn’t get enough of Caitlin Clark in 2024, and that was never more evident than in the returns of All-Star voting. She received over 700,000 votes, which was a number not previously seen before in the history of the league.

The 2024 WNBA All-Star game was played with a unique format. WNBA All-Stars played against the women’s national team that would go on to represent the United States in the Olympics. This was an important statement game for Clark, considering the buzz that surrounded her not being selected to play in the Olympics.

Clark didn’t set the world on fire in the scoring department in that game, but she flashed her trademark playmaking ability. She posted 10 assists in that game, and left fans excited about the sky-high potential she still has as a young player.

Despite everything that Caitlin Clark accomplished as a rookie in the WNBA, her greatest accolade in 2024 might have happened while she was still in college playing for the University of Iowa. In March, she broke Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record of 3,687 points. She ended her college career with 3,951 points.

Clark has been the guiding force for women’s basketball in recent years, but she has often reflected praise on to her supporters. After she broke the record, NBC News captured her saying, “This is special. I don’t know if you guys realize what you’re doing for women’s basketball and women’s sports in general, but you’re changing it. You’re helping us change it.”

Clark told ESPN after setting the mark, “It’s really crazy to think about. Honestly, if you would have told me that before my college career started, I would’ve laughed in your face.”

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