While initially, Caitlin Clark had found it difficult to adjust to the level of the W, she did it in time, helping her team to the playoffs. CC, since her NCAA days, had a lot of doubters who questioned whether she would be able to perform in the pro league. But her list of accolades is a testament to the fact that the Fever rookie has dominated her opponents with her fiery spirit. And now that Clark has also clinched the AP ROTY award, her boyfriend Connor McCaffery’s brother came forward to take a dig at the W legend Diana Taurasi.
“Is the reality a little late? maybe it’s still on its way,” Connor McCaffery’s brother Patrick McCaffery voiced his opinion, taking a subtle jibe at Taurasi. The post was put up on his Instagram story along with a picture of Clark celebrating a moment in the Indiana Fever jersey. During her early games, Clark had herself admitted that she would need time to adjust to the W’s level. While her other problems could easily be solved, Clark found it difficult to get accustomed to the physicality of the league. However, everything changed after the Olympics break.
USA Today via Reuters
The former ‘NCAA Queen’ kept on trying her best up until the break despite failing gloriously. She became the first rookie to hit a triple-double, while also accomplishing a host of milestones, including but not limited to the highest number of assists in a single W game (19). The Des Moines-born, nonetheless, was contained by her opponents, but once she came back from the Olympics break, the generational talent was unstoppable.
She broke the single-season assist record, surpassing Alyssa Thomas’s tally of 316. Additionally, Clark also eclipsed Seimone Augustus’ record of most points by a rookie by scoring 769 points. Even in shooting beyond the arc, Clark surpassed Rhyne Howard’s record of most three-pointers by a rookie by leaps and bounds by hitting 122 three-pointers. Overall, she averaged a whopping 19.2 points per game with 5.7 rebounds per game and 8.4 assists per game in the regular season. All this culminated in her unanimously winning the AP ROTY award on Sunday.
Clark thanked her teammates for always encouraging her and being there for her. She reflected that it was “a tremendous honor to be named The Associated Press Rookie of the Year” and she would be looking forward to continuing her on-song performances in the postseason. However, while all looks well for the Fever rookie, DT might be having a tough time, biting her words.
Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi’s beef
Before Clark was drafted into the WNBA, she was having an exceptional NCAA season. Taking her team to two Championship Finales in 2023 and 2024, the former Hawkeye star won hearts with her long logo-3s and playmaking. She also became the leading all-time NCAA scorer when she went ahead with the legendary Pete Maravich. Hence, there were murmurs that Clark would take up the standard of the W once she made it to the league. However, DT didn’t seem to think the same way.
During an interview in April, DT had opined that Clark would find it difficult to adjust to the W. “Look, SVP, reality is coming. There’s levels to this thing. And that’s just life,” Taurasi had stated back then. Furthermore, the 42-year-old had added that in college Clark was plying her trade against young individuals, some of whom were even freshmen. However, that wouldn’t be possible in the W as Clark would have to battle it out against “some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”
DT’s statements had earned her a lot of backlash from fans back then, which increased when the former was chosen in the Olympics team ahead of Clark. Since then, the media has projected both Clark and DT as rivals who are in different phases of their career. And with Patrick’s latest tweet, the same has been confirmed once again. However, as for the two players, there is no rivalry. In fact, they have displayed many instances of camaraderie during their matchups. It remains to be seen if Clark will react to the 6x Olympic gold medalist.
