Eighty-five games.
That is all Caitlin Clark has needed to begin rewriting the WNBA record books, emerge as an MVP-calibre superstar and help transform the reach of women’s basketball.
And perhaps the scariest part is that the 24-year-old appears to be getting better.
Clark and the Indiana Fever sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 24-12 record, having won five straight and eight of their past 10.
At the centre of that surge has been Clark.
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The former No.1 overall pick is averaging 22.1 points, 8.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game this season.
Over her past 12 games, those numbers have climbed to an extraordinary 26.1 points and 9.2 assists, while shooting 49.5 per cent from the field, 41.4 per cent from three and 86.6 per cent from the free-throw line.
It has put Clark firmly into the MVP conversation alongside some of the biggest names in women’s basketball.
85 GAMES IN… AND CLARK IS ALREADY REWRITING HISTORY
Yet to understand just how extraordinary the beginning of her professional career has been, you have to go beyond what Clark is doing right now.
Because 85 games into her WNBA career, the record book is already littered with her name.
Clark holds the league records for the most 20-point, 10-assist games in a single season with 10 and in a career with 20, while no other player in WNBA history has recorded more than 10 of the latter.
She is also the fastest player to 30 double-doubles and owns the record for the most 20-point, eight-assist games with 31.
Clark is the only player in WNBA history to record 700-plus points and 250-plus assists in two seasons, while she became the fastest player in either the WNBA or NBA this century to reach 700 career assists.
She has already recorded 23 career games with at least 25 points and five assists, placing her fifth in WNBA history, and became the only player in league history to average at least 26 points and nine assists across a 10-game stretch.
And this is hardly a sudden explosion.
Clark’s rookie season provided the warning of what was coming.
She broke the WNBA single-season assists record and single-game assists record, while establishing rookie records for points, assists and three-pointers.
She became the first rookie in WNBA history to record two triple-doubles, the first Fever player to record a triple-double and produced the most double-doubles by a rookie guard in league history.
By the end of that first season, Clark had been crowned Rookie of the Year, selected First Team All-WNBA and led the league in assists per game and three-pointers made.
It was one of the most decorated rookie seasons women’s basketball had seen.
WHY HASN’T THE RESPECT ALWAYS FOLLOWED?
But for all the records, awards and unprecedented attention Clark has generated, recognition from within the basketball world hasn’t always appeared to move at the same pace.
That complicated relationship began almost immediately.
Clark was famously left off Team USA’s squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics, although the timing of that decision is important.
The Olympic roster was officially announced on June 11, when Clark was just 13 games into her rookie WNBA season and Indiana sat at 3-10.
She had therefore played less than a third of her first professional regular season, having barely had time to adjust after going almost directly from Iowa’s run to the NCAA championship game into the WNBA.
At the time, Clark was averaging around 16 points, six assists and five rebounds per game, while Team USA ultimately selected a vastly more experienced roster filled with established WNBA stars and international champions.
There was, therefore, a legitimate basketball argument behind the decision.
Clark herself took that view publicly.
“I’m excited for the girls on the team,” Clark said at the time.
“I know it’s the most competitive team in the world, and I know it could have gone either way – maybe you’re on the team, maybe not on the team.
“So, I’m excited for them. I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold. I was the kid that grew up watching the Olympics. It’ll be fun watching.”
Asked whether she was disappointed to miss out, Clark instead framed the decision as motivation.
“Honestly, no disappointment. It just gives you something to work for,” she said.
“That’s a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that.
“And hopefully, when four years come back around, I can be there.”
Clark also revealed USA Basketball officials had personally informed her of the decision before the roster became public, something she appreciated.
“Yeah, they called me and let me know before everything came out, which is really respectful of them and I appreciated them,” Clark said.
“They did the same for every single girl on the team, every girl that didn’t make the team. There’s a lot of players in the Olympic pool.”
What happened next, however, made the omission look increasingly remarkable in hindsight.
Clark proceeded to produce one of the greatest rookie campaigns in league history, breaking record after record and establishing herself almost immediately among the WNBA’s elite.
Two years later, the complicated question of how Clark is viewed by her peers has again emerged.
Despite developing into an MVP-calibre player, Clark received only the 11th-most votes among guards in the player component of the 2026 WNBA All-Star voting.
Importantly, that does not mean WNBA players collectively ranked Clark as the league’s 11th-best point guard.
Only 85 of the league’s 180 players participated in the vote, with players asked to select four guards and six frontcourt players.
Clark was still deservedly named an All-Star starter.
But the optics were difficult to ignore.
And some of the biggest names around basketball did not hold back in their reaction.
WNBA legend Candace Parker took particular issue with Clark receiving only the 11th-most votes among guards from her fellow players, suggesting there was something more behind the result.
“I think people need to look at themselves in the mirror and realise, man, you got some insecurities,” Parker said.
“If you’re sitting down and putting Caitlin Clark as the 11th best…”
Former WNBA star and long-time broadcaster Stacey Dales was similarly stunned by the result.
“It is insulting. It is preposterous,” Dales said.
“Caitlin Clark is exceptional.”
Prominent US sports commentator Colin Cowherd went even further, describing the result as “petty” given Clark’s influence on the court.
“She’s the number one shooter, distributor, play initiator, playmaker, and she’s 11th,” Cowherd said.
“It’s so petty.”
The reaction only added another layer to what was already a fascinating result.
An MVP contender. An All-Star starter. A player producing numbers rarely seen before in the WNBA.
And only the 11th-most player votes among guards.
It is a fascinating contradiction surrounding the opening 85 games of her career.
Clark can be an MVP candidate, an All-Star starter and one of the most statistically historic young players the league has seen, yet recognition from within the sport has not always appeared to keep pace with everything happening around her.
CLARK ISN’T JUST CHANGING RECORDS… SHE’S CHANGING THE WNBA
Perhaps that contradiction would attract less attention if Clark’s impact stopped when she walked off the basketball court.
It doesn’t.
In many ways, Clark’s impact away from the box score is what makes the opening chapter of her career so extraordinary.
She arrived in the WNBA carrying an enormous audience from her record-breaking college career at Iowa and has brought that audience with her into professional women’s basketball.
And the television numbers tell the story.
The five most-watched WNBA games this season have all featured Clark and the Indiana Fever, drawing audiences of approximately 2.60 million, 2.56 million, 2.51 million, 2.49 million and 2.01 million viewers.
The trend extends beyond just this season, with each of the 13 largest WNBA audiences over the past 25 years involving Clark in some capacity, including Fever games, the 2024 All-Star Game and the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Television audiences have surged. Arenas have filled. Games have been moved into larger venues. Fever road games have become events.
Clark hasn’t simply become one of the faces of the WNBA.
She has helped change the scale on which the league operates.
And for all the records already attached to her name, remarkably, they aren’t necessarily how Clark wants to be remembered.
Asked what she hoped her legacy would be when her career eventually comes to an end, Clark pointed not to points, assists, three-pointers or trophies, but impact.
“A lot of my favourite players growing up, I don’t know how many points they ever ended up scoring, or I don’t know how many three-pointers they made,” Clark said.
“Hopefully, it’s just the impact that you can leave on people and the way you made them feel. And I think that’s kind of been the story of my career.”
For Clark, part of that impact is introducing people to a sport she has loved her entire life.
“I hope you know when I’m done playing one day, that’s what people remember the most about me, is the way I’ve been able to unite people to cheer on basketball and love a game, or bring people together to love a sport in a way that they maybe never have before,” she said.
“There’s so many people that have come up to me and been like, ‘I’ve never watched women’s basketball before,’ and I don’t take offence to that.
“I think that’s a really cool thing to bring people in that have maybe never experienced something that I’ve loved all my life.”
That may ultimately be the most remarkable part of Clark’s rise.
There are effectively two Caitlin Clark stories unfolding simultaneously.
The first is about a basketball player who, through just 85 WNBA games, has already accumulated records that would represent significant career achievements for established stars.
The second is about an athlete whose arrival has helped introduce an entirely new audience to women’s basketball.
And Clark already knows which one she hopes matters most when it is all over.
“That’s probably the biggest thing that I’ll look back on my career and be proud of,” she said.
“Just the amount of people that I’ve been able to bring in and enjoy the game that I’ve always loved since I was a young kid.”
There will continue to be debate around Clark – about MVPs, All-Star votes, Team USA selections and where she belongs among the league’s biggest stars.
But increasingly, the numbers are beginning to overwhelm the debate.
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Eighty-five games.
That’s all Caitlin Clark has needed to rewrite chunks of the WNBA record book, become an MVP-calibre superstar and help take the league to another level.
The records already tell the story of an extraordinary basketball player.
But if Clark gets her wish, her eventual legacy will be measured by something much bigger than numbers.
By how many people she brought with her.
She hasn’t simply risen with the WNBA.
The WNBA has risen with her.