NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark has been named the WNBA Rookie of the Year in a near-unanimous vote, giving the Indiana Fever back-to-back winners after Aliyah Boston received the honor final season.
A nationwide panel of sportswriters and sportscasters gave Clark 66 of 67 votes in balloting launched Thursday. Chicago Sky ahead Angel Reese obtained the different.
“I am incredibly honored to be named Rookie of the Year, but more than that, I am grateful to everyone that supported me throughout this past season — my family and friends, my teammates, the Fever organization and everyone that cheered us on all season. I am so proud of what we accomplished and so excited for what the future holds,” Clark mentioned in an announcement.
Clark, the No. 1 total decide from Iowa, averaged 19.2 factors and a league-best 8.4 assists per sport whereas serving to the WNBA set attendance data and garner mainstream consideration. She struggled a bit early in the season, however discovered her groove and was an All-Star starter. The unanimous AP Rookie of the Year led the Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and a 20-20 document after a 1-8 begin.
“I’m a tough grader. I feel like I had a solid year,” Clark mentioned after the Fever have been eradicated in the first spherical of the playoffs. “For me, the fun part is like I feel like I’m just scratching the surface and I’m the one that’s nit picking every single thing I do. I know I want to help this franchise. … I know there’s a lot of room for me to continue to improve so that’s what excites me the most. I feel like I continue to get a lot better.”
Clark was not chosen for the U.S. Olympic crew — a call that dissatisfied her legions of followers — however she confirmed in the weeks afterward that she may need been useful. The Fever guard averaged 24.7 factors and 9.3 assists in her first 10 video games after the Olympic break and led Indiana to an 8-2 document.
Clark was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for August, was Player of the Week 3 times and Rookie of the Month 4 instances. She recorded the first two triple-doubles by a rookie in WNBA historical past, set a league single-game document with 19 assists and have become the first rookie to have not less than 30 factors and 10 assists in a sport.
Clark led the league with 122 3-pointers, was second with 90.6% accuracy from the free-throw line and averaged 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals. She set a league single-season document with 337 assists and set rookie data of 769 factors and 122 three-pointers made.
Reese averaged 13.6 factors and 13.1 rebounds for the Sky.
Off the courtroom, Clark, Reese and their fellow rookies have been a rankings and attendance boon for the WNBA. Six totally different league tv companions set viewership data this 12 months for its highest seen WNBA sport. All of these video games included the Fever.
Indiana led the league in attendance each at dwelling and on the highway. The Fever averaged 17,036 at dwelling and greater than 15,000 on the highway. Four groups moved dwelling video games to larger arenas when Indiana got here to city to accommodate extra followers.
Despite Indiana’s blowout loss to Connecticut in Game 1, followers tuned in as the sport averaged 1.8 million viewers, based on ESPN, making it the WNBA’s most watched playoff sport since the 2000 Finals. It was the most watched playoff sport on ESPN ever regardless of going up towards the NFL.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
