There’s been no shortage of attention from opponents given to Indiana Fever rookie and No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark through the early stage of her WNBA career. This included a controversial dust-up with Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter, who knocked down the former Iowa star after the two had gone back-and-forth on the floor for a few possessions last week.
Many players across sports have spoken out on the attention Clark is drawing on the floor, along with the spike in viewership she’s brought to the league. Most recently, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves offered some advice to Clark, as Lakers Nation detailed.
I think you preach to just stick with it,” Reaves said. “Every rookie coming into professional sports, you have growing pains where you go through the physicality change from the college to the pros. I think the way teams are guarding her and showing her a lot of attention is just a respect to what she can do on the court.
“So I don’t think anyone should take it as anything different and I’m sure she’s not. I’m sure she’s watching film, doing everything she can do to get better every single game. But I’m sure it’s more of a respect thing and I’d tell her that, that if [opponents] didn’t see her to be the player that she is and think she is then they wouldn’t be physical with her and trying to get after her to see how good she is,” Reaves continued.
“You just tell her to stick with it because like I said, every rookie in any sport you play goes through growing pains. I’m going into year four and I’m still going through growing pains, still learning the game every single day. So just tell her to stick with it.”
It’s a good piece of advice from Reaves and while Clark has been a focal point for opposing defenses, she’s still put up solid numbers to start her professional career. Through 12 games, Clark is averaging 16.8 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. She’s struggled to get her shot to fall early on, knocking down just 37.3 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three-point range.
Clark did have a breakout of sorts with her shot in the team’s most recent game on Friday against the Washington Mystics, as she scored 30 points while knocking down 53.3 percent from the field and 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) of her three-point attempts.