Caitlin Clark smiles at a reporter at the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Apr 15, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Caitlin Clark speaks in a press conference after she is selected with the number one overall pick to the Indiana Fever n the 2024 WNBA Draft at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Caitlin Clark effect continues to reverberate. On Tuesday, ESPN announced that the 2024 WNBA Draft had set a new record for being the most watched draft in the league’s history, with 2.45 million viewers. This marks an increase of 307 percent compared to last year’s draft and surpasses the previous record set by the 2004 WNBA Draft, which had 601,000 viewers and featured UConn star Diana Taurasi being selected at No. 1 overall by the Phoenix Mercury.

This year’s draft had the largest audience for any WNBA event since 2000, when the Houston Comets vs. New York Liberty game was aired on NBC before the NBA conference finals. 


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Aya Abdeen has been a contributing writer for The Next since December 2022. She is also a WNBA and NCAA Women's Basketball writer for BallisLife, ASU Women's Basketball reporter for Devils in Detail, and...