Caitlin Clark changed women’s basketball before she ever played a professional game. At the University of Iowa, Clark became the most watched player in the history of college basketball, drawing sellout crowds across the Big Ten, breaking television viewership records and turning what had been a niche product into must-see television.
She averaged 28.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.1 rebounds in 139 games with the Hawkeyes and finished her collegiate career as the greatest scorer, male or female, in the history of NCAA Division I basketball.
Her move to the WNBA in 2024 did not slow the momentum. She was selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever, won Rookie of the Year, earned an All-Star selection in her first year and has since driven record-breaking attendance and viewership figures across the league.
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Clark helped transform the WNBA into a genuine mainstream sport, and even a 13-game second-year campaign derailed by injury did little to diminish the cultural pull she had built around herself and the Fever.
On Independence Day, one of the most decorated athletes in American sports history gave Clark a huge endorsement. Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady narrated a video celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday, highlighting the most iconic moments in American sports history.
Brady spotlighted Clark’s historic moment of becoming the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer on the list that included other iconic athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, Michael Jordan and Brady himself.
Clark broke the NCAA Division I women's career scoring record on February 15, 2024, against Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, surpassing Kelsey Plum’s previous mark with one of her trademark long-range three-pointers. On March 3, 2024, in the game against Ohio State, she eclipsed Pete Maravich's 3,667 points. She finished her Iowa career with 3,951 points, 1,144 assists and 990 rebounds, becoming of the most accomplished players in college basketball history while leading the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national championship game appearances.
In her third WNBA season, she has shown no signs of slowing down. Clark is averaging a career-high 21.2 points per game on 43% shooting and 34.4% from three, along with 8.2 assists per game, the second best in the league behind Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas (8.4). She was named a starter for the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game for the third consecutive year.
