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The WNBA draft will commence Monday and a new group of women’s college basketball stars will begin the transition to the WNBA. Eight days after UConn defeated South Carolina in the NCAA championship game, the women’s basketball players entering the draft will get started on their professional career.
There can be many challenges that come with jumping from any college sport to the professional leagues, but the WNBA is unique in that the draft and regular season take place so soon after the college basketball season ends. After the WNBA draft on Monday, the players will have just over a month before the regular season starts on May 16.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark went through that transition firsthand last season, competing in the NCAA title game before getting drafted No. 1 a week later. Though Clark was a generational talent coming out of Iowa, she acknowledges she had to adjust to the WNBA fast.
“So you basically go home for one day and pack up your whole life and then move to a new city, the city that you get drafted to,” Clark said, via Elle. “So I think it’s just the adjustment period that you have.”
Clark added, “I think the biggest difference is just how fast you have to move on and change from being a college student, a college athlete, and then you’re like a professional athlete and there’s a lot that comes with that too.”
To no surprise, Clark managed to swiftly get accustomed to the WNBA, becoming an All-Star as a rookie and immediately leading the Fever back to the postseason. She led the WNBA in assists as a rookie, and became the WNBA Rookie of the Year. After that rookie season came to a close in September, Clark has had much more time to prepare for her sophomore WNBA season, which begins in May.
