What kind of debate? Angel Reese has been amazing, but Caitlin Clark is the WNBA rookie of the year.
Since the WNBA returned from its Olympic break, Caitlin Clark has averaged 24.6 points, 9.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game. She shoots 50 percent from the floor and 38.6 from behind the arc.
Her Indiana Fever are 6-1, for a 17-16 overall record. A team that finished dead last in the league a year ago has already secured a playoff position and is vying for a 5 seed.
Clark is performing like a top-10 player in the league, possibly a top five.
No, she’s not A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas, who should be the undisputed, unanimous choice for league MVP, but it’s a lot closer than anyone could have predicted in May. That’s when Clark started to adjust to the professional game.
You’d think that now that Clark has improved her already superb game with brilliant performance after brilliant performance, the debate over who should be the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year would be finished.
If Clark and Chicago’s Angel Reese had a reasonable conversation earlier in the season, they don’t anymore. Clark, especially after a month out, is a completely different player.
However, there are still holdouts, including former players, media pundits, and a large number of fans. The sole change appears to be that, where previously Reese deserved to be Rookie of the Year alone, there is now a nod to make her and Clark co-Rookies of the Year.
Everyone’s drive is unique, and determining that reason across all aspects of the WNBA season this year has been an intriguing cultural subtext. It’s made the league more interesting. Whatever rationale someone has, it is theirs. They can vary.
However, in terms of basketball, this is not a valid argument, because the person who is most likely harmed by the ongoing disagreement is Angel Reese, not Clark.
Reese, an LSU product, is having a great, historic first season and is primed for a tremendous career. She averages 13.3 points and a league-best 13.2 rebounds each season. Yes, there has been some late-game stat hunting, primarily to maintain a double-double streak, but so what?
Anyone who does not appreciate Reese’s rebounding abilities, defensive intensity, and the reality that Chicago performs better when she is on the court is being dishonest. Every team in the league would be thrilled to have her.
Reese’s 434 rebounds are the most in WNBA history by any player, rookie or veteran, in a single season, and Chicago still has seven games remaining.
In almost any other year, she would be a deserving Rookie of the Year. She deserves to be celebrated.
Instead, she’s being forced into a comparison game she can’t win because, as good as Reese is at rebounding and guarding, Clark is a better all-around player. Rather than being praised for what she has done and is doing, Reese is being chastised for what she is unable to achieve in comparison to what Clark does.
However, few people can do what Clark does.
Basketball is basketball, and while defense and rebounding are important aspects of the game, everything revolves around Caitlin Clark. The passing. The level of aggression. The double teams. The ingenuity. Defenses are extended as a result of deep threes. She also plays defense and rebounds well, particularly for a guard.
In the NBA, no matter how amazing a Ben Wallace or a Dennis Rodman were — and we’re talking Hall of Fame greats — no one would pick them over Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, or Michael Jordan, who had a greater impact on the game simply because of their position and responsibilities. Check back in if Reese becomes a consistent low-post scoring presence, which we believe she will.
Clark currently does everything, and she continues to do so at an increasingly high level. Her season statistics — 18.7 points, 8.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals — are improving. She is the focus of every defense that confronts Indiana, yet she has yet to be stopped. Nobody is going to want to face the Fever in the playoffs.
Last to first? Who knows. Indiana started 1-8 and has gone 16-8 since.
Clark belongs in her own category. It is simple to see. Not only is it silly to pretend otherwise, but it also forces Reese, who deserves to be celebrated, to deal with being told what she isn’t rather than being praised for who she is.
Any legitimate Rookie of the Year debate is over. The entrenchment is not helping anyone.
