Caitlin Clark could raise the Fever in Indianapolis after this season with Iowa

About 90 minutes after Caitlin Clark led No. 4 Iowa to an 87-65 women’s basketball win at Wisconsin Sunday afternoon, something was going on elsewhere that affected her greatly.

The WNBA held its 2004 draft lottery. For the second-straight year, the Indiana Fever got the No. 1 pick, followed by the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury.

Put Clark down for Indiana if she chooses to go pro in four months or so.

The $76,535 question (that’s the guaranteed salary for the top four draft picks) is if Clark will turn pro after this season or stay at Iowa for a fifth season. That option is hers because of the extra season the NCAA granted all athletes who competed in the 2020-21 COVID-19 year.

Many think there’s a decent chance Clark will stay put given the NIL cash she can and already has raked in while at Iowa. The WNBA money is small potatoes compared to that.

However, I think she’ll leave. That’s a guess, nothing more, and it’s a long way from now till the end of this season.

My guess is based on competitors seeking the best competition, talent wanting to be pushed by other talent. Clark can net as much from endorsements in the WNBA as she can in college. Business-wise, another year at Iowa wouldn’t cool her off from a branding standpoint. But her arrival in the WNBA would set off a fresh, different wave of interest in her.

The WNBA might rather have her in, say, Los Angeles. But it doesn’t really matter. Victor Wembanyama is in San Antonio. The Spurs are drawing additional fans wherever they go this season with the 2023 No. 1 pick on their team. The world can find you if you’re in San Antonio, L.A., Indianapolis or even Iowa City.

If selling out the game at Wisconsin ‘s 17,230-seat Kohl Center Sunday isn’t proof Clark is the women’s game pied piper, you didn’t read your Gazette. The Badgers averaged just 3,111 fans for their first five home games this season.

The Fever were 13-21 this year. They won a total of 11 games over the previous two seasons. The WNBA average attendance in 2023 was 6,615, which actually was its best since 2018. Indiana was next-to-last with 4,067 fans per home game.

Clark has sold out the Iowa-Rutgers game in New Jersey next month. It’s Rutgers’ first advance sellout since 2006. She has sold out the Iowa-Minnesota game in Minneapolis next Feb. 28. It’s the Gophers’ first advance sellout in over five years, and it’s for a Wednesday 8 p.m. game.

She would sell tickets in Indianapolis, oh yes she would.

The franchise drafted Aliyah Boston from South Carolina with the No. 1 pick before the 2023 season. That was shortly after Clark’s Hawkeyes shocked Boston’s Gamecocks in a national semifinal.

The 6-foot-5 Boston averaged 14.5 points and was the unanimous league Rookie of the Year. NaLyssa Smith, a 6-4 forward from Baylor, was the Fever’s pick with the No. 2 selection in 2022. She averaged 15.5 points in 2023.

Clark could fit in with those two, don’t you think?

Oh, she is averaging 29.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7.6 assists for her 9-1 team. The Hawkeyes’ next game is Saturday in Des Moines against Cleveland State. The event sold over 13,000 tickets in 90 minutes when they were put on sale in late May.

Enjoy her now, Hawkeye fans. The guess here is she belongs to the ‘W’ sooner rather than later.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com