Following a prosperous college career, Caitlin Clark once again finds herself at a low point in her journey. The Indiana Fever star is struggling to adapt to the requirements of the WNBA, with physicality and team strength being the constant sources of her worries. Despite these adversities, the 22-year-old has maintained a positive outlook on the future.
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In a recent press conference, Clark mentioned, “The biggest challenge for me…obviously, first of all, physicality but second of all being competitive, but also understanding this is a young group…young team, I’m young. It’s gonna be a learning process, not everything is gonna be perfect”. (per Khristina Williams)
Caitlin Clark said her biggest challenge transitioning from college to the professional level is the physicality and understanding that it will be a learning process with the Fever’s young core. pic.twitter.com/38MVVA2knL
— Khristina Williams (@Khristina) May 19, 2024
Undoubtedly, Clark’s start to her WNBA life has been anything but rosy. Despite being the focal point of her team’s offense, the Iowa-born has struggled to make her efforts count. Consequently, she has shot a mere 40% from the field so far, highlighting her challenges in acclimatizing to the demands of a professional career.
Additionally, the franchise lingers at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table after losing each of their first three clashes. However, this is to be expected from a side of the Fever’s youth. And after all, their struggles from the past season were the sole reason they even received the opportunity to draft Clark as the number 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
So, Clark’s recent comments fairly lamented her situation. So much so, that even the opposing team couldn’t help but agree with her.
The opposition team sided with Caitlin Clark
The initial WNBA games tested the current limits of Clark properly. In these three contests, she faced the conference leaders, New York Liberty twice, and the current second-place holder, Connecticut Sun once.
Expectedly, the youngster failed to make a defining impact, yet averaging a significant stat line of 17 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Notably, her fighting spirit and on-court basketball acumen have impressed her opposition during these games. As a result, the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart backed her to succeed in the long run. During the post-game conference, she expressed her thoughts, stating,
“When you come into this league and you’re the number one pick, everyone is gonna know where you are at all times…That’s gonna be the growth of this team over the season is them figuring out what the right spots are depending on what the defenses are gonna do… Obviously, us up here, it’s respect…We know she is a great player”.
Soon after that, Stewart’s teammate, Jonquel Jones, extended on a similar note. Just like Clark, she also highlighted the importance of patience, mentioning, “I think the media needs to give her a little bit of grace and time to develop into a player. She’s learning every game as she’s out there and obviously, her impact on this league is gonna be tremendous”.
Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones talk about Caitlin Clark’s transition to the WNBA.
Jones: “I think the media needs to give her a little bit of grace and time to develop into a player. She’s learning every game as she’s out there.” pic.twitter.com/pAkD8JRzuN
— New York Liberty Videos (@SNYLiberty) May 18, 2024
So, even after an unconvincing start, the odds for success remain in favor of Clark. More importantly, the player herself has been able to maintain her composure throughout this chaos, shedding light on her maturity.
Now, she must learn to leverage the time she has by her side to grow and learn from these setbacks. At the same time, she must also ensure victories in favor of her team to rise through the ranks. Interestingly, she had done precisely this during her time with the Iowa Hawkeyes, keeping the Fever supporters hopeful of a repeat of the past.
