'I'm playing the best basketball of my career': How Caitlin Clark's game has grown in Year 3 — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Caitlin Clark says she's "playing the best basketball of my career" in her third WNBA season, averaging 21.5 points and 8.0 assists (both top-three in the league) and landing on the U.S. women's national team roster for September's FIBA World Cup.
- Clark's offensive efficiency has jumped from 104.2 points produced per 100 possessions in 2024 to 113.9 this season, lifting her net rating from minus-2.4 to plus-5.8, with her usage rate climbing from 26% to 31% as she takes far more 2-pointers.
- Clark is the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 1,500 points and 500 assists and already owns the league record for 20-point, 10-assist games (18), and she posted the first 40-point, 10-assist performance in WNBA history against Seattle this season.
- The Indiana Fever are 7-3 since a July 8 loss to the Sparks and competing for a top-four playoff seed, with Clark's pick-and-roll chemistry alongside Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell fueling a WNBA-record 14 games of 100-plus points.
- Clark's defense remains a clear work in progress — opponents have shot 49.0% with her as the closest defender this season (vs. 39.9% in 2024), and she has defended 75 direct isolations, 27 more than any other player, allowing 1.19 points per iso.
- Clark's defensive rebounding has dipped to 3.7 per game this season from 5.3 as a rookie, prompting coach Stephanie White to push her to "go find" the ball instead of standing and watching, advice Mitchell reinforced after hearing from Penny Hardaway.
Why it matters: Clark's swing from minus-2.4 to plus-5.8 net rating, paired with a Fever team now 7-3 since early July and chasing a top-four seed, makes Indiana a legitimate playoff threat. But opponents shooting 49.0% with Clark as the closest defender — up from 39.9% as a rookie — means every postseries will probe that isolation weakness until she closes it.
Ask SkimNews
