In the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, Hunter Cruse, Emily Adler and Lincoln Shafer discuss the 2024 WNBA draft class and how many of its top players have fared early in their second WNBA season.
They begin with Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. Before being sidelined with a left quadriceps strain, Clark played four games this season and averaged 19.0 points, 9.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 35.0 minutes per game. Adler summarizes what Clark’s sophomore season has looked like so far:
“I don’t think anyone has ever really done as much for an entire team as she was doing, at a level that she was doing it, in those games. … I personally have watched a significant chunk of Candace [Parker]‘s prime. I watched, obviously, [Breanna Stewart‘s] MVP season. I know what this means.
“But she was genuinely holding her own on defense in a way that was very close to, I think, what we had seen a little bit of at Iowa, what would be projected to be her ceiling. It was very competitive. It was downright impressive.”
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Los Angeles Sparks forward Rickea Jackson, the No. 4 overall pick, has also missed time this season with a concussion. But in three games, she has averaged 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 23.3 minutes per game. Adler explains how Jackson’s game has developed:
“The role is a little bit different than last year. Ignore the efficiency; the process as a sort of secondary creator, it’s very nice. It’s really nice to see her being able to slot in off the ball the way that she is, even being asked to play almost comically out of position, which is not really a coaching issue as much as it is a roster-building issue. …
“She is really getting the footwork down on the catch-and-shoot threes that was super inconsistent, I think, at college. … We’ll see how the defense progresses. She’ll be asked to do more as the season goes on. I like it so far. [I’m] really encouraged. She’s really hitting high-end outcomes.”
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“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
