Caitlin Clark‘s rookie season with the Indiana Fever came to a close last week after suffering an 87-81 Game 2 loss to the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA playoffs.
A few days before, the former Iowa Hawkeyes star was announced as the Associated Press Rookie of the Year, but the official WNBA award was still to be revealed.
Then, on Friday, just two days following elimination, The Athletic’s Shams Charania revealed on X that Clark had, in fact, been named the WNBA Rookie of the Year, along with the other major awards.
However, the WNBA has yet to acknowledge Clark as the Rookie of the Year.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark
Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
The league has recognized the MVP (A’ja Wilson), the Most Improved Player of the Year (DiJonai Carrington), and most recently, the Defensive Player of the Year (Napheesa Collier).
With Charania being one of the more reliable basketball sources, Clark’s latest accomplishment is undoubtedly true. But many fans are awaiting the official announcement from the league, leaving their complaints about the timeliness of it on social media.
“So no rookie of the year announcement,” one fan said.
“Rookie of the Year announcement…where is it? Love Caitlin & her accomplishments need to be recognized! Do better, WNBA. Do better.”
“Is this expansion draft and the Valkyries on Dec 6th happening before the rookie of the year is announced..”
“AP Rookie of the Year had been announced… maybe that was what they used. She will be WNBA Rookie of the Year… just a matter of time. Maybe we will get GTA VI before 2024 WNBA ROTY is announced.”
“They really announced Caitlin Clark being Rookie of the Year on 60 minutes before the WNBA has even announced it…..”
“Your daily reminder that WNBA has not yet announced Rookie of the Year.”
Clark finished her rookie season averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and a league-leading 8.4 assists. She broke many records along the way, including most assists in a season and a game, most three-pointers by a rookie and most points by a rookie. Not to mention the first two rookie triple-doubles in WNBA history.
