Caitlin Clark headlines list of 15 players invited to WNBA Draft

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese headline a list of 15 college players who have been invited to the WNBA Draft on Monday, the league announced Thursday.

Clark, who is the career leading scorer in Division I men’s and women’s basketball, is expected to go first to the Indiana Fever. It’s the second consecutive year that the Fever have the top pick.

“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement now with having back-to-back picks,” Indiana General Manager Lin Dunn said. “And I think, you’ve seen a great deal of interest in ticket sales around this pick, and I think we’re all excited about adding another top pick to this young team. So is there a lot going on? Is there a lot of noise? Is there a lot of excitement? Absolutely.”

The University of Iowa star helped the NCAA Tournament have its highest ratings ever, including 18.9 million people tuning in for the championship game won by South Carolina over Clark’s team.

Reese helped LSU win the NCAA championship in 2023 and is expected to go somewhere in the first round.

Other players invited to attend the draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music include Stanford star Cameron Brink and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso. The 6-foot-7 center helped the Gamecocks complete the 10th undefeated season in NCAA Division I history. She earned Most Outstanding Player honors of the Final Four.

The other 11 invitees are Rickea Jackson of Tennessee; Aliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl of UConn; Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech; Charisma Osborne of UCLA; Celeste Taylor and Jacy Sheldon of Ohio State; Alissa Pili of Utah; Marquesha Davis of Mississippi; Dyaisha Fair of Syracuse; and Nyadiew Puoch of Australia.

The Los Angeles Sparks hold the second and fourth pick with Chicago selecting third. Dallas is fifth and Washington sixth.

Minnesota, Chicago, Dallas, Connecticut, New York and Atlanta close out the first round.

In all there are three rounds and 36 picks total.

“You know, the hardest part of this conversation every year is the reality that second and third-round picks have a really hard time making WNBA rosters,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “First-round picks that go late have a hard time making WNBA rosters. We talk about a league of 144. It’s not a league of 144. Many of these teams only carry 11 players and maybe by the end of the season they can carry a 12th.”

Clark is expected to be a game-changing player that will make the Fever a winner again after a seven-year playoff drought.

Fever guard Erica Wheeler told social media fans Clark was the real deal after attending one Iowa game in February 2023. Another Fever guard, Grace Berger already knows Clark’s scouting report after chasing her around Big Ten Conference courts for three seasons.

Neither had any idea back then, though, that the Fever would win a second straight draft lottery that would allow them to team up with the 2023 unanimous rookie of the year Aliyah Boston and the greatest scorer in Division I history.

This young, star-studded combination suddenly makes last season’s 13-win team a must-watch team, a title Indiana last held during Tamika Catchings’ final season in 2016.

So fans in Indianapolis and around the Hoosier State are focused on how quickly Indiana can rise in the standings and become a legitimate contender.

Clark’s transformation from generational college superstar to becoming the face of a WNBA franchise has been eagerly anticipated since Clark and the Hawkeyes started selling out arenas while getting record TV ratings over the past two seasons.

That is expected to continue at the pro level.

While the Fever have declined to release ticket sales or merchandising information—or discuss expectations for Clark on the court—because she is not yet officially on the team’s roster, that has not stopped other teams from promoting their matchups against Clark.

Two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas already has announced the Indiana game on July 2 will be played at T-Mobile Arena, which seats about 6,000 more fans than its traditional home venue.

The Phoenix Mercury also have dubbed the June 30 date against the Fever as “ The GOAT vs. The Rook,” capitalizing on a seemingly thinly veiled rivalry between Diana Taurasi and Clark.

“Reality is coming,” Taurasi recently said on ESPN. “You look superhuman playing against some 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”

How quickly and smoothly Clark adapts to bigger, stronger, more experienced opponents is a serious concern.

While most evaluators believe Clark’s shooting and passing skills will travel to the WNBA, there are questions about her defense and how the 6-foot, 155-pound point guard will deal with established stars unlikely to give the newcomer the red carpet treatment.

She’ll also have only a short break between the end of a demanding 39-game schedule that included becoming the focal point of every opposing defense and a highly publicized record-breaking scoring quest, and the mid-May start of a 40-game WNBA schedule. Playing on the U.S. Olympic Team also remains a possibility, too.

“I know what’s next is soon,” Clark said after losing Sunday’s NCAA championship game.

Life certainly is coming at Clark quickly.

Indiana opens preseason play May 3 at Dallas with the regular-season opener set for May 14 at Connecticut. If all goes as expected Monday, Clark’s home debut would come May 16 against New York, last season’s WNBA runner-up.

For women’s basketball fans, Clark’s pro career can’t start soon enough. And in Indy, Clark looks like the perfect answer for a franchise that’s had only 58 wins in the past seven seasons.

She’ll learn the rookie ropes from a poised point guard such as Wheeler while teaming up with Boston, forward NaLyssa Smith, the No. 2 overall pick in 2022, and shooting guard Kelsey Mitchell, the No. 2 overall pick in 2018.