The current front-runner for WNBA Rookie of the Year, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is having one heck of a debut season as a pro.
The leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game and the No. 1 seller in WNBA player-specific merchandise, Clark has hit plenty of milestones in her first year, and she’s not too far off from breaking a couple WNBA individual records as well.
The 22-year-old is just 13 assists away from breaking Ticha Penichiero’s rookie record for single-season assists (225), per Basketball Reference, and she’s 104 assists away from Alyssa Thomas’ single-season record of 316.
At her current rate of 8.2 assists per game, Clark would break Penichiero’s record in the Fever’s second post-Olympics game against the Seattle Storm on Aug. 18 and she’d break Thomas’ record in the Fever’s next-to-last game of the regular season against the Dallas Wings on Sept. 15.
Clark, who logged 10 or more assists in seven of her final 10 games leading up to the Olympics, would need to average 7.4 assists per game for the rest of the year to surpass Thomas.
Though it’ll be the first to fall, Penichiero’s record has stood since 1998. The closest anyone has come to surpassing her (until Clark) was Sue Bird, who had 191 assists during her rookie season in 2002. In fact, Clark and Penichiero are the only two players in WNBA history to log 200 or more assists as a rookie.