Caitlin Clark put together one of the most remarkable debut scoring seasons in WNBA history, finishing seventh in the league with 19.2 points per game as she cruised to Rookie of the Year honors.
But in the eyes of WNBA legend Sue Bird, one shot in particular has helped skyrocket the profile of women’s basketball during its recent assurgency: Clark’s trademark logo 3-pointers.
“The casual fan, the one that isn’t really into it but is going because their friends are going and it’s cool to be there,” Bird said onThe Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly this week. “So we’ve always struggled in that… I mean, we were the butt of the jokes. It was really hard to break through.”
“…But Caitlin came and she poured gasoline all over that thing and just took it to another level,” Bird continued after acknowledging the success of WNBA Finals series’ in 2022 and 2023. “She broke through, I think, with her logo 3s… we finally had the antidote to dunking.”
This audacious 3-point shooting range saw Caitlin Clark rise to national prominence as a junior at Iowa, finishing second nationally in scoring average as she helped her Hawkeyes march to the national championship game against fellow burgeoning star Angel Reese. Clark’s crew lost decisively 102-85 against LSU, but the matchup generated a women’s college basketball record 9.9 million viewers.
Returning for her fourth and final season in Iowa City, Clark helped routinely shatter the record for most expensive ticket in women’s basketball history as this scintillating perimeter shooting ultimately saw her snap Pete Maravich’s all-gender NCAA scoring record.
Clark proved an even bigger draw during the 2024 Final Four, with the Hawkeyes’ championship defeat to South Carolina attracting a TV audience of over 19 million.
Selected first overall in the WNBA Draft, Clark has transferred the long range Bird described into the professional ranks. Her average 3-point attempt has come from beyond 28 feet, two further than any other WNBA player, and her 86 percent Rim & 3-Point Rate exceeds any other player in the league by a wide margin.
