Getty Image / Gregory Shamus
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is already the face of the WNBA despite not yet having played in a regular season game. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer at Iowa has seen the excitement around her grow to unprecedented levels.
There are many perks to being a professional athlete, especially one with as many endorsements as Caitlin Clark has. But, she experienced one of the very few drawbacks of being a rookie athlete in pro sports over the weekend.
Due to commitments with the Fever as they prepare for their regular season opener on Tuesday, Caitlin Clark was forced to miss her graduation ceremony at the University of Iowa over the weekend.
Iowa, like many large state universities, breaks up their undergraduate commencement ceremonies by individual college within the university. For Clark, a marketing major, that meant her ceremony, honoring graduates of the Tippie College of Business, was scheduled for 5PM Central Time on Saturday, May 11.
Not to worry. Caitlin Clark did get a graduation ceremony, even if it was pretty unorthodox.
Caitlin Clark was unable to attend her @uiowa graduation yesterday so the team surprised her with a "Certificate of Graduation" before training camp today 📃 🎓 pic.twitter.com/oHPLruveFh
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 13, 2024
That’s good work by her Indiana Fever teammates. That being said, I’m sure Caitlin Clark’s parents would’ve liked to see her actually walk the stage in Iowa City.
In two preseason games, Clark averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game for the Fever while shooting a combined 10/27 from the floor. She’s going to want that efficiency to go way up when the regular season starts on Tuesday. That being said, there’s nothing in her entire basketball career to suggest that Clark won’t quickly adjust.
The Fever take on the on Connecticut Sun in Hartford, Connecticut on Tuesday at 8PM ET.