“It always takes time,” stated Sue Bird months back when Caitlin Clark tipped off her WNBA career not in a very desirable fashion as the Indiana Fever lost five games in a row. However, the rookie guard turned the tables later on and is now one of the players who have set the league on fire this season with record-breaking performances. While Clark’s brilliant season continues, former WNBA star Sue Bird is confident that Clark’s future holds much more.
Recently, Sue Bird came out with another episode on her podcast where she discussed Caitlin Clark’s debut season and made predictions about the rookie’s future performances. “She’s going to break records nonstop for the next couple of years. It’s just going to be a constant record break,” Bird said, via A Touch More. While Clark has already broken a few WNBA records earlier, the most recent milestone was when she became the rookie with the most assists in a single season.
At just 22 years old, the Fever’s dynamic guard etched her name in the history books by surpassing WNBA legend Ticha Penicheiro’s rookie season record of 224 assists, set back in 1998. Clark has taken it up a notch, dishing out an impressive 232 assists and counting. “Caitlin now is able to push the ball up the floor. She’s able to hit those get-ahead passes,” mentioned Sue Bird.
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Bird also touched on the initial upsets of the rookie as she said, “The only thing that I find most interesting is, at the start of the season, everybody had their panties in a twist over Caitlin getting picked up full court and Caitlin being denied.” When Clark had a tough start to her debut season, it was Sue Bird again who had a compassionate stance on the rookie’s performance.
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Sue Bird’s sympathy with Caitlin Clark’s tough start
While Clark is now in full momentum averaging 8.3 assists, the first five games saw the rookie creating just 5.8 assists per game. During that time, Sue Bird showed her support for the No. 1 WNBA Draft pick. “She probably has arguably the most pressure that any, you know, women’s basketball player has ever had coming into the WNBA. I mean, sometimes, it feels like the weight of the WNBA is on her shoulders,” said the former Seattle Storm star in an interview.
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Bird also stated that it was ‘unfair’ to put so much pressure on the rookie. Nevertheless, Clark has surely impressed everyone after that bounty start as she now has an average of 17.8 points per game. The rookie guard has also broken the record for most assists in a single game as she registered 19 assists in her name against Dallas Wings just before the Olympic break.
Clark has made sure to be consistent as she helped Fever win two consecutive games after the Olympic break. Currently, her team finds themselves in the seventh spot in the WNBA standings. But, with Sue Bird’s strong predictions about Clark, they will hope that the rookie will help them climb up in the points table. Next up for Clark and company is the Minnesota Lynx on August 25.
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Stay tuned for more such updates. Join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show.” Our host, BG12, sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.