Caitlin Clark and fellow rookie Angel Reese (and Cameron Brink before her unfortunate ACL injury) have taken the WNBA, as the league is seeing a level of notoriety and viewership that it’s never experienced before.
Part of the reason Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have been such lightning rods is, that ever since they became rivals in college, they have a real Larry Bird and Magic Johnson element about them, which only adds a compelling narrative on top of their elite skill.
Due to the rivalry, however, WNBA fans — both new and old — seem to be taking sides when it comes to rooting for one or the other and arguing about who should be named Rookie of the Year.
If you ask Angel Reese fans, Clark’s currently lagging behind the LSU alum for the Rookie of the Year award, in part because she currently leads the league in turnovers. A look at Clark’s tape from the season, however, seems to show that many of those turnovers are the fault of Clark’s teammates, not her.
“Caitlin Clark leads the WNBA in turnovers!”
The turnovers: pic.twitter.com/02KNza2iTz
— Hub (@KenHeLive) June 23, 2024
“Caitlin Clark leads the WNBA in turnovers”
Her teammates EVERY game: pic.twitter.com/e1eU3LTD5Q
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) June 23, 2024
“Every stat watcher loves to yap about Clark’s turnovers meanwhile she’s out here threading needles on passes and her teammates can’t catch a cold man,” tweeted one basketball fan.
“It wouldn’t be a Fever game without a teammate dropping a pass that hit them square in the hands and then crediting Caitlin Clark with the turnover,” read another viral post.
Here is another perfect Caitlin Clark pass that her teammate can’t handle and the WNBA stat recorder said it was a turnover on CC.
What is going on with these stat recordings? pic.twitter.com/y4RbamR4cF
— Jordan Stocks (@StockTalks21) May 18, 2024
I try to tell yall that majority of the time it’s not Caitlin Clark lol her team is REALLY bad and she’s often one step ahead of them and they give the the turnovers 🤣 pic.twitter.com/GRbirU3o4L
— OB (@brokedontgotit) June 20, 2024
Despite the turnovers, Clark was named Rookie of the Month for May, her first month in the league. Thus far through her WNBA career, Clark is playing 33.7 minutes per game (of a possible 40) and is scoring 16.3 points per game. Clark is also averaging 6.6 assists per game and 5.4 rebounds per game and is shooting 35% from beyond the 3-point line.