Who doesn’t like to have a magician in the league? The unrivaled was no different. ‘A Lionel Messi–like offer’—that’s what the Unrivaled was prepared to offer Caitlin Clark, according to reports. But CC? Oh! Always as clear as crystal with her thoughts: she didn’t need any off-season basketball. Even after getting an offer with a salary possibly exceeding $1 million along with equity and revenue sharing for less than three months of work, it was still not enough to attract Clark, who was determined to take some time off doing things other than high-pressure basketball.
Clark’s last couple of years have been a whirlwind after a record-breaking college season in Iowa, where she led the Hawkeyes to their second consecutive appearance in the national championship game and became the only player in NCAA Division I basketball history, be it any gender, to lead their conference in scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons. She barely had time to breathe as Clark jumped right into her debut WNBA season with all eyes on her.
In the offseason, she did everything but competitive basketball; she played golf at the pro-am for The Annika LPGA tournament, and she accompanied Taylor Swift to a Kansas City game. Be it any event or public appearance, she left her GM, Amber Cox, speechless by showing up at every session. Cox would look at Clark’s jam-packed schedule and think there’s no way she’s making it to practice tomorrow, yet she always showed up.
“I kind of marveled at it,” Cox told ESPN. Even Sarah Kessler, the Fever’s head athletic performance coach, was in awe as she said, “I’d be like, you can sleep in if you want,” to which Clark said, “I’ll still be here.”
There is a tendency for rookies to take the initial seasons in the WNBA lightly, especially if you had a season as good as Clark had, guiding the Fever to their first playoff berth in almost a decade and topping the assist chart. Not to mention her popularity, which has arguably surpassed any WNBA player to have ever walked on the court. “She’s far beyond her years in terms of her understanding of how to work,” Stephanie White, the Fever Coach, told ESPN. “Oftentimes, you see rookies, even the great ones, where it usually takes three years for them to figure it out. She’s got it figured out.”
It could have been easy for her to just sit back and relax till this season came around. But you don’t become the elite-level athlete that Clark is with that attitude; she would be in the weight room working on her strength, and she would be on the court working on those shots from beyond the arc.
The only trips she took were back to her hometown and to the Pro-Am Golf tournament. Playing as a special guest of Gainbridge as part of Parity Week, Clark hit some decent shots, according to No. 1 Nelly Korda, but some went awry, as you expect. Even there, she was upset when she hit one not according to her standards; that’s what makes her so good, that attitude of trying to be her best at everything she does. On the court, we can see that her strength has been up a notch or two, as she is putting down shots from well behind the three-point line rather easily in the preseason so far.
Even with her injury, she has been pretty active on the court, and one would feel she is in fact completely fit, but we know otherwise. Coach Stephanie White has mentioned that they are still taking it slow with her minor left leg injury, which was detected prior to the season starting.
Sport Bilder des Tages Indian Fever Caitlin Clark warms up before the first half against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on Sunday, June 2, 2024 in New York City. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY NYP20240602504 COREYxSIPKIN
They are thinking long term, so it might still affect how Clark plays, and we might not have seen the full extent of her capabilities yet. Even at 80%, she is enough to blow off most teams in the league, so there is nothing to worry about so far. CC has received a new nickname following her call after the Pacers dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs.
Clark Kent is renamed as “Caitlin from downtown” after her radio call
The Fever fans are just waiting for Caitlin Clark to do something exciting and out of the box so that they can change her nickname to something new. It was Clark Kent in February this year after she appeared in a press conference wearing glasses like Superman’s alter ego. CC is definitely emerging to be the Supergirl of the WNBA as she eased her way to multiple records on and off the court in her debut season itself.
Now another nickname has emerged for the beloved Caitlin Clark after her call to a local sports radio post-game show. The Pacers had completely thrashed the Cavaliers 120-109 with Clark in attendance and the basketball nerd couldn’t shut up about the game. So much so that she called on 107.5 The Fan — under a fake name that did not take fans long to decipher.
She was introduced as “Caitlin From Downtown,” who said, “It was just one of those nights where you literally could not miss,” Clark said. “It was really, really fun to watch. I felt honestly bad for the Cavs at one point, but, man, that was some good basketball.”
mysterious fan “caitlin from
downtown” said she felt bad for the cavs at one point pic.twitter.com/oK2HtCO2bX
— correlation (@nosyone4) May 12, 2025
The host later confirmed that it was Caitlin Clark, but the hardcore fans needed no confirmation, as there was only one Caitlin who shot from downtown, that was their own Caitlin Clark. It refers to the common phrase used by commentators when any player makes a shot from beyond the arc. And there is almost no one better than CC at pinpointing shots from range. The nickname immediately went viral on social media, with many of the fans referring to the point guard as Caitlin from downtown.
The nickname will certainly be referred to when Clark and the Fever kick off their season on May 17 against the Chicago Sky. Caitlin from downtown will need to bring her A-game against Angel Reese and co., as their rivalry heated up the WNBA this past season. Clark is 4-1 up in the WNBA against Reese as the rivalry moves on to 2025, with both players getting better by the day.
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