Candace Parker Shares Special WNBA Rookie Achievement With Caitlin Clark
Nobody can deny that Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark had a truly extraordinary first season playing professional basketball.
In addition to setting numerous rookie records, being named the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, earning All-WNBA First-Team acclaim, getting deemed an All-Star, and finishing fourth in WNBA MVP voting, the 22-year-old also led her Fever squad to their franchise's most successful season in nearly a decade.
However, what might be the most fascinating part of Clark's 2024 season is that it wasn't definitively the best rookie season in WNBA history. That's because basketball legend Candace Parker won WNBA MVP in her rookie season and led the Los Angeles Sparks to the Western Conference Finals.
It isn't easy or necessarily fair to produce a direct comparison between Clark and Parker's respective rookie campaigns because they play completely different positions. Yet, it's interesting to note that Clark has a slight edge over Parker in points per game (18.7 to 18.5).
However, a recent post to Parker's Instagram story makes it clear that she'd rather not compare the two icons at all, and instead give Clark her well-deserved flowers.
On Thursday, Parker reposted a photo from the @espnw Instagram account that celebrated how she and Clark are the last two rookies to earn First-Team All-WNBA honors.
Candace is so real 😁 pic.twitter.com/6eVG7r0OJ9
— 𝐙𝐞𝐚 🎃 (@thecaitshot) October 18, 2024
"Caitlin Clark is the eighth rookie to be named First Team All-WNBA in league history. She is also the first rookie to get the honor since Candace Parker in 2008 👏," the post's caption read.
Parker ended up winning another WNBA MVP and three WNBA Championships across her acclaimed career. Therefore, Clark has her work cut out for her — not that their two resumés need to be compared.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.