It seems like Caitlin Clark breaking records in the WNBA is going to be a staple for a while. Even during the 2024 All-Star Game, Clark presented herself an opportunity to surpass Sue Bird’s All-Star Game assists record. However, the Indiana Fever rookie failed to break Bird’s record for a change. Hence, she joked during the post-game presser that she intentionally didn’t break the record because she didn’t want to take away her “homie’s” record.
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By the middle of the third quarter of the exhibition game, Caitlin Clark had recorded nine assists. During a mid-game interview with the broadcast team at that moment, she learned that she was only three assists shy of breaking Sue Bird’s all-time single-game assists record.
After learning that Bird holds the record, Clark seemed motivated to get past the WNBA legend. She also had a reason to be so fixated on breaking the record. The sharpshooter half-jokingly said during the interview,
“It’s Sue’s? Then I’m breaking it. Sue’s been talking crap all game (courtside). If it’s anybody else, they can keep it.”
Caitlin Clark when she’s told the all-star record for assists is 11 by Sue Bird:
“Oh it’s Sue’s? Then I’m breaking it. She’s been talking crap all game.” pic.twitter.com/4TyAFesmET— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) July 21, 2024
The former Iowa Hawkeye proceeded to finish the contest with 10 assists. While she did shatter the All-Star Game record for a rookie, Clark was two assists shy of surpassing the WNBA legend.
When asked about the same during the post-game conference, Caitlin amused the reporters by claiming that she intentionally came up short because she didn’t want to take the record away from her “homie”.
“That’s Sue’s record, I can’t take that from her, that’s my homie,” Clark said playfully. “But no, I mean, we were just playing hard, there was a couple times especially with [Aliyah Boston], you can still just see our connection, even though we’re not with the whole Fever team, but we still have that connection.”
CC: “That’s Sue’s record. I can’t take that from her. That’s my homie.”
“There was a couple times, especially with [Aliyah Boston]. You can still just see our connection, even though we’re not with the whole Fever team.”
“But yeah, that’s all Sue, so let her have that.” https://t.co/7SihC8Gu4Z pic.twitter.com/QjjiuLjQSN
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) July 21, 2024
It’s pretty clear that Clark was joking about not breaking Bird’s record because she’s a ‘homie’. The Fever guard basically suggested that the most important thing was her team winning the contest. Since that did happen, breaking the individual record wasn’t a priority for her.
Caitlin Clark only recorded 4 points on 22.2% shooting during the game while committing 2 turnovers. However, her 10 assists played a crucial role in helping Team WNBA upset Team USA 117-109.
The 22-year-old would certainly get a lot of opportunities to break the assists record in future editions. In fact, she did break the WNBA single-game assists record just a few days ago.