Caitlin Clark admitted she was a bit nervous earlier than being chosen with the No. 1 decide within the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, though it was no shock.
“I dreamed of this second since I used to be in second grade, and it is taken lots of laborious work, lots of ups and downs, however greater than something, simply attempting to soak it in,” Clark mentioned.
The previous Iowa star turned a family identify amongst basketball followers throughout her record-breaking faculty profession, and she is going to now try to assist revive the Indiana franchise together with final season’s No. 1 decide, Aliyah Boston.
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“The group has probably the greatest publish gamers in the complete world. My level guard eyes gentle up with that,” she mentioned.
The Fever taking Clark had been a foregone conclusion since she introduced on Feb. 29 she would flip professional. Practically 17,000 tickets had been claimed to look at the draft at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, house to the Fever and the NBA’s Indiana Pacers.
Clark has helped carry hundreds of thousands of followers to the ladies’s recreation along with her signature pictures from the midcourt brand and passing means. The NCAA’s all-time scoring chief was a giant cause why a file 18.9 million viewers tuned in to the nationwide championship recreation, which Iowa misplaced to unbeaten South Carolina. The Hawkeyes had been additionally the nationwide runners-up to LSU a yr earlier.
Clark, who wore a white Prada jacket and skirt, hugged her mother and father and brothers and Iowa coach Lisa Bluder after she was drafted.
The draft was held on the Brooklyn Academy of Music in entrance of 1,000 followers, who purchased all of the tickets inside quarter-hour of them occurring sale a number of months in the past.
Los Angeles selected Stanford’s Cameron Brink at No. 2. She’ll get to remain in California and can give the Sparks a two-way participant. The prolific scorer was additionally the Naismith Defensive Participant of the 12 months. The Sparks wanted to interchange franchise participant Nneka Ogwumike, who left for Seattle in free company.
Chicago had the third decide and selected South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso earlier than the Sparks had been on the clock once more and chosen Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson.
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Dallas took Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon with the fifth decide.
The WNBA invited 15 gamers to the draft, together with Clark, Brink, Jackson and Cardoso. The others had been Angel Reese of LSU; Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech; Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl of UConn; Charisma Osborne of UCLA; Celeste Taylor and Sheldon of Ohio State; Alissa Pili of Utah; Marquesha Davis of Mississippi; Dyaisha Truthful of Syracuse; and Nyadiew Puoch, an Australian who didn’t play faculty basketball within the U.S.
Full protection of the WNBA draft on CBSSports.com.
