WNBA playoffs: As Caitlin Clark’s season ends, it’s a reminder that this is just the beginning

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The championship version of Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever was never going to be built in a season. No one, from the general manager to the highly competitive Clark, were blind to that.

“It’s a good little taste of what’s possible for this organization and for this franchise,” Clark said after closing out the last 40 minutes of her sensational rookie season. “And there’s a lot for us to hold our heads high about.”

The Fever nearly forced a Game 3 against a vastly more experienced Connecticut Sun squad at Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday night. The final minutes delivered vibes of a classic Clark storybook ending that’s enticed millions for nearly a full calendar year.

She orchestrated a mini Fever run with five minutes to go on a fadeaway bucket and pass to Lexie Hull that set up a Temi Fagbenle 3, then capped it with a 3 that gave the Fever their first lead since 1:29 of the first quarter. Again the Fever took a lead on a pass to Aliyah Boston.

Yet, payoffs don’t happen that quickly. They didn’t for Clark at Iowa, either. The Fever offense sputtered out, and the Sun closed out Indiana’s best season since 2016 with an 87-81 victory in the same place the year began.

“This team won five games three years ago,” Clark said. “So we’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing with one another. That’s sometimes the worst part of it is you feel like you’re playing your best basketball and then it has to end.”

Clark improved as the season went on from a franchise record 10-turnover debut to a 25-point performance with nine assists, six rebounds, one steal, one block and three turnovers in the finale. She played all 40 minutes alongside backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell and ignited the game with an opening 3-pointer, an indication it wouldn’t be the poor shooting night fans saw in Game 1.

She finished fourth in MVP voting and is a first-team All-WNBA contender. The Associated Press voted her unanimous Rookie of the Year. The league’s ROY award is nearly guaranteed to be hers. The records, both rookie and overall, fell in droves.

And the Fever made the playoffs for the first time since 2016, a goal they’ve been quite public about after years of living in the standings basement as the league’s punchline. From 2017-2022, the Fever went 45-147 (.234) with only one season above .300. Lottery picks weren’t useful; they were wasted.

In 2022, the Fever finished a franchise-worst 5-31 (.139) and general manager Lin Dunn brought in Christie Sides as head coach. They earned the No. 1 pick and drafted Boston, a South Carolina national champion. The 6-foot-5 center led them to a 13-27 season — tying the franchise’s most wins since 2017 — and won ROY.

“My rookie season, I think it was a rebuild year,” Boston said. “And so when you’re looking at a rebuild year, I mean, everyone wants to jump to the championship and bring home a ring and everything. But I think when you look at basketball as a whole, and when you look at where you start to where you are now, it’s about stepping stones. I think in two seasons, we’ve made the right steps to go forward, and I’m excited for what the future holds.

“We’re on the rise. I think that’s important to keep that as the focus.”

The Las Vegas Aces drafted No. 1 three consecutive seasons from 2017-19, lost in the Finals in 2020 and didn’t break through for a title until 2022 with their core group. Same for the Seattle Storm each time they drafted back-to-back at No. 1.

Still, the Fever were expected to be good. Great, even. Expectations were sky-high, even while they powered through an opening slate of the game’s very best teams and veterans. Outside noise grew loud amid a 1-9 start. They rebounded, became one of the hottest teams after the All-Star/Olympic break and secured the No. 6 seed at 20-20.

“We freaking played in the playoffs after we started 1-8, and that is an incredible story to talk about,” Sides said.

There was no doom and gloom in this loss, nor was there an air of immense dissatisfaction after the Game 1 loss. Sure, there was disappointment in how they played and how they strayed from the game plan. But, this was a learning opportunity for the future.

Boston will be on a rookie contract through 2025 with an option for 2026. Clark’s is through 2026 and ’27, respectively. Mitchell is an unrestricted free agent the Fever will likely make a solid pitch to keep. There are major free agents they’ll woo and a deep draft to pad the bench.

“We definitely have the pieces to have some great years ahead of us [with] this young talent that we have,” Sides said.

Sides said she’ll take a couple of weeks to decompress and enjoy a “good night’s sleep and not waking up to speaking basketball all the time.” Boston, who worked in-studio for women’s college basketball last year, said now that she has a feel for the faster pace the Fever played, she’ll have a better gauge on offseason training plans.

Clark is ready to take a breather.

“I feel like basketball has really consumed my life for a year,” Clark said.

The “Crossover at Kinnick” that opened her senior season at Iowa was nearly a full year ago on Oct. 15, 2023. She chased and broke Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record, a mark many believed was untouchable. The record-holder led Iowa to a second consecutive Final Four after the Hawkeyes had never made it before her time. Within the same week she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and officially became the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. Crowds met her in Indianapolis and never left all summer as the Fever broke attendance records.

She hasn’t had time to reflect on any of it, nor is she able to pick out a favorite moment of them all. She’s more focused on the relationships she built and the people around her when she accomplished all of it.

As for her assessment of her own rookie season, that one is also tricky. She’s a tough grader and intense competitor always out for more.

“I feel like I had a solid year,” Clark said. “But for me, the fun part is I feel like I’m just scratching the surface, and I’m one that’s nitpicking every single thing I do, and I know I want to help this franchise, get even better how my teammates did even better, be better for my teammates and I know there’s a lot of work we need to continue to improve. So that’s what excites me the most. I feel like I can continue to get a lot better, and before we know it, I’m sure we’ll all be back here and ready for the next year.”

The championship version of the Fever and Clark is closer, but still loading.