Indiana Fever and WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is looking forward to a hard-earned break away from basketball during the Olympics .
Clark , 22, the 2024 No. 1 overall pick and frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award, was not selected to represent Team USA in Paris. With several WNBA stars headed to the Games, the league will take a break until Aug. 15.
"I honestly can't wait to not touch a basketball for a while. I've shot too many times in the past year," Clark told reporters after the WNBA All-Star Game. Clark earned an All-Star selection in her rookie year, as did her longtime rival Angel Reese, with the pair teaming up to help defeat Team USA before the Stars and Stripes headed to Europe.
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"I think it's hard as a professional athlete at times like people do always realize I feel like an individual just like all of you," Clark added. "I'm just the same human. I go about my same daily life, I do all the things that you do, I just play basketball on top of that."
The Fever managed to shake off a slow start to get themselves up to 11-15 in 2024, placing them third in the East and seventh overall. Clark and Co. will return to action in mid-August with the goal of reaching the playoffs.
"I'm loving that she's going to get a breather and get some rest, just for our push after this Olympic break. I think it's great for her; she's just been going so hard for quite some time now, and this is just going to help her so much just to kind of decompress," Fever coach Christie Sides said.
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Clark is averaging 17.1 points per game in the WNBA. She's also registering 5.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists. Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo has hailed Clark as the best passer in the league. "She's incredible," the former WNBA All-Star said about Clark on SiriusXM.
"I think Chelsea Gray over the course of the last few years has been the best point guard in the world and the best passer in the WNBA. [But] I think right now Caitlin is right there if not passing her in terms of the passing. I think she is the best passer in the league right now."
Lobo continued: "Her turnovers are always going to be a little bit high because of the chances she takes, especially with get-ahead passes. She’s looking to thread the needle, and oftentimes it makes it there and sometimes it doesn’t.
"And what’s remarkable, too, is she still hasn’t found her 3-point shot at the rate that she will, but has adjusted. She’s taking less of the logo bombs, she’s driving more and finishing. So she's getting points that way and her assisting has been off the charts. It's been really, really fun to watch."
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