Caitlin Clark 'savior' theory explained as WNBA star smashes season records

Basketball pundit Debbie Antonelli has called out the "Caitlin Clark savior theory," which attributes the revival of the WNBA largely to its No. 1 draft pick.

Antonelli firmly stands against the idea that the league needed saving. The story goes that Clark's exceptional college play at Iowa has created enough excitement to significantly boost the WNBA.

Her first season with the Indiana Fever is breaking records, as she topples rookie scoring achievements and draws in big crowds and television viewers.

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Clark, together with other fresh faces like Angel Reese and established stars such as A'ja Wilson, who scored over 1,000 points in a single season, are indeed raising the league's profile. Nonetheless, while commentating on the Fever's nail-biting 110-109 win against the Dallas Wings, Antonelli seized the opportunity to challenge the notion that Clark is the sole force behind the league's success.

During the game's live coverage, Antonelli made it clear that although Clark's impact is significant, the WNBA's progress is due to the collective work of many players. "The game didn't need saving. I don't know who came up with 'Caitlin was a savior. That's not true," Antonelli stated, reports the Mirror US .

"What the game needed was a disruption in the economic marketplace. And that's what we're seeing here. That's why it's been so fun to cover the Fever and watch Fever fans across the country."

Clark set a new WNBA rookie scoring record with a career-high 35 points against the Wings. She made six out of fourteen attempts from the 3-point line and a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line, with eight assists and three steals. After the feat, Clark became the top all-time rookie in points, assists, and 3-pointers made in a single season. The Fever also secured the No 6 seed of the WNBA playoffs, sailing into the postseason for the first time since 2016.

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"I thought we could have executed better at the end. I had a few turnovers, that can't happen, but we made plays when we needed to, and I'm glad we got the win," she reflected after the last game of the regular season. "It's only going to get better from here on out."

The emergence of star players like Clark and her headline-making showdowns with Reese, Wilson, DiJonai Carrington, and Chennedy Carter are stirring buzz online. Their on-court brilliance has mesmerized spectators, prompting league-wide conversations about expansion, equal pay, physicality, as well as cultural and racial issues.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, while chatting with NBC, likened the escalating sponsorships and the rivalry between Reese and Clark to the legendary Magic Johnson and Larry Bird feud: "The WNBA players are really looked at now as kind of cultural icons. And when you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There's no more apathy. Everybody cares."

Engelbert also connected the dots between the dueling duo of Clark and Reese and the historic rivalry of Bird and Johnson: "It is a little bit like that Bird-Magic moment," recounting the 1979 emergence of the two NBA phenomenons from a charged college rivalry, one white and one Black. "And so we have that moment with these two. But the one thing I know about sports is that you need rivalry. That's what makes people watch."

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