College basketball prodigy Caitlin Clark selected first in WNBA draft
Al Jazeera
Clark, whose record scoring exploits garnered huge media attention in her final college season, was picked by the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Clark, who smashed records on and off the court in a dazzling United States college career, was selected first in the WNBA draft amid expectations she will have a transformative effect on women’s professional basketball.
Clark, 22, was taken first overall by the Indiana Fever on Monday night – a team that has not been to the playoffs since 2016 and had the second-lowest attendance in the league in 2023 with an average of 4,066 fans per game.
With the University of Iowa star joining last year’s overall top pick Aliyah Boston in Indiana, however, all that seems set to change.
In anticipation of her selection, the WNBA has already scheduled 36 of the Fever’s 40 games next season for national television.
Even before the draft the Fever had begun selling a limited amount of single-game tickets, betting that the basketball-mad Midwestern state of Indiana would be prime territory for “Clark mania”.
