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    • Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking rookie year is over. What’s next?
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    Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking rookie year is over. What’s next?

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    Caitlin Clark’s first professional season is over and people are already fantasizing about what she’ll do in her second season.

    Clark had a sensational, record-breaking year in the WNBA and is the heavy favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award.

    After helping Indiana reach its first playoff appearance since 2016, Clark and the Fever faced a seasoned, experienced Connecticut Sun team. The Sun swept the Fever on Wednesday, winning Game 2 87-81. Now, Clark is packing her bags and heading back to Indiana for what may be her longest break from organized basketball. But that doesn’t mean Clark won’t work. What’s scary for her opponents is that she’ll probably get better.

    “I feel like basketball has consumed my life for a year,” Clark said after Wednesday’s loss, a nod to the fact that the Iowa women were in the Crossover at Kinnick last October, a basketball game played at the football stadium to accommodate the demand for Clark.

    “It’s definitely going to be a little weird for me over the course of the first couple of weeks (off),” she said. “And then I’m sure I’ll get bored and pick up a basketball again.”

    So how much better can she get? Let’s break it down in terms of the three stats that always generate the most conversation around Clark: scoring, passing and turnovers.

    Since New York guard Sabrina Ionescu, now in her fifth season, is most comparable to her in terms of position, size and skill, it makes sense to also look at Ionescu’s stats, especially when it comes to her shooting.

    Another thing to remember is that as the WNBA continues to grow (teams will play a record 44 regular season games in 2025), Clark will have more opportunities to break various records.

    MORE: How many points did Caitlin Clark score in her rookie WNBA season? Check out her stats

    Caitlin Clark likely to shoot better in 2025

    Clark is known for her 3-pointers and her ability to shoot straight away once she crosses the half court. In 2024, she had a pretty good shooting season. Clark made 41.7% of her field goal attempts and finished as the 20th best shooter among WNBA guards this season.

    While Clark’s field goal percentage has fluctuated at Iowa — from 47.2% as a freshman to 45.2%, then to 47.3% and finally 45.5% as a senior — it’s almost certain to improve in her second professional season, particularly from 3, where she shot 34.4% this season. Clark’s senior year at Iowa, she shot 37.8% from long range.

    For comparison, Ionescu’s field goal percentage rose steadily during her first few seasons in the league, from 37.9% in her first full year in 2021 to 42.3% in 2023. (She shot 39.4% in 38 regular-season games this year.) After shooting around 30% her first two years, Ionescu’s 3-point percentage jumped to 44.8% in 2023. (Ionescu played in just three games in 2020 due to a season-ending ankle injury.)

    While Clark will undoubtedly become an even better and more efficient scorer at the professional level, defenders will also need to learn how to defend her better.

    “When you come into this league, it’s like you have all the best players at one school,” said Seattle guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, one of the best perimeter defenders in the WNBA. “Everybody’s in this league for a reason, and everybody can hurt you. (With scorers), you’ve got to make them take tough shots, make them uncomfortable. You’re always trying to take away their first option.”

    “Actually,” she said, laughing, “you also hope they just miss.”

    For guards in particular, Diggins-Smith pointed out, the first few seasons in the WNBA involve “a lot of on-the-job training, because you don’t get a lot of training camps or practices. You just have to get through it, and then the game eventually slows down.”

    Bottom line: Expect these numbers to improve for Clark, especially from 3. The stat to really watch is how many shots she takes per game. She ranked 11th in that category this season (out of all 144 players), but could move up, especially as Indiana continues to play at a faster pace.

    Caitlin Clark’s turnovers will decline

    Clark led the league in turnovers as a rookie (5.6 per game), but what did you expect? The reality that you have the ball in your hands more than anyone else means that you’re also likely to lose it far more than anyone else.

    Comparison is difficult here. Clark is the definition of a high risk, high reward player and when she gets into her groove, she plays at a breakneck pace. Many of her turnovers come from taking risks.

    Meanwhile, the league’s other top passers — Ionescu, Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas, New York’s Courtney Vandersloot — don’t have to shoot as much because they have more talent around them, which helps them reduce turnovers.

    But as all those experienced passers can attest from personal experience, the more Clark plays with her teammates and develops chemistry and timing with them, the fewer turnovers she will have. She will also get a better sense of which defenders she can pass and which ones she can’t.

    Fitting is what will set Caitlin Clark apart

    True WNBA fans and casual WNBA viewers love Clark for her shot speed, but true basketball fanatics know that the difference between Clark and her performance is her passing.

    “You can’t guard someone’s vision and you can’t guard someone’s unselfishness,” said Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, who played 16 years in the league. “There’s certain things that come naturally to people, and she has an innate way of passing the ball. Her passing is the best part of her game. Her shooting, people want to talk about logo 3s or whatever, but — that girl will slice and dice your defense.”

    In other words, Clark’s vision of the other nine players on the field is a unique gift. It’s hard to anticipate the gaps she’ll see and the passes she’ll thread through them.

    Clark is also one of the GOATs of women’s basketball when it comes to being a multi-tool player. Diana Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, has always been known as a tough nut to crack because of her ability to do it all. At least that’s how her teammates tell it.

    “Playing against DT was a pain in the (butt),” said current Mercury guard and Taurasi teammate Natasha Cloud, who played eight seasons with the Washington Mystics. “I left games with bruises all over my arm. She’s one of the toughest people to guard because she just has so many weapons. And what makes her super dangerous is she can also pass the (junk) off the ball.”

    According to Diggins-Smith, there’s nothing like defending a great passer to make you realize the importance of team defense.

    “With great point guards who can see, you try to catch their vision, show them different schemes,” Diggins-Smith said, explaining that it’s crucial that everyone gets their hands in the passing lanes. “We don’t talk about it as a one-on-one matchup, it’s got to be one-on-five. It takes discipline, too.”

    Hammon agreed.

    “You have to change the eyes of people who are dissecting the game that way,” she said. “You have to make them uncomfortable … once you learn how to use passing as a weapon, you become essentially impossible to defend.”

    That’s good news for Clark and the Fever, and sobering news for everyone tasked with guarding her.

    Contributions: Nancy Armour

    Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell

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