As portions of a WNBA All-Star record crowd booed her introduction Saturday night, Caitlin Clark maintained her smile and focus.
“Don’t lose that joy,” a former sitting U.S. President had reminded her one day earlier.
Clearly, Clark listened.
Of course, Barack Obama might not have approached Clark individually if she weren’t already tough enough to be transcendent. With the ball in her hands – and then quickly spinning through the air at the United Center in Chicago – Clark embraced and seized a moment she aims to experience regularly.
“You’re kind of just like a young kid running around out there and having fun and shooting whatever shots and being creative and playing with flow, and I really enjoy that about the game of basketball,” she said. “So, it was really fun for me to get back out there.”
Clark was an All-Star months after the Indiana Fever selected her with the top pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft. Still, she reflected Saturday that the format influenced the feeling of that game seeming less like a usual midseason showcase.
The U.S. Women’s National Team faced a team of league All-Stars including Clark in a leadup to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.
Two years later, a WNBA All-Star Game-record 19,783 fans packed an NBA venue to watch teams that were drafted by Hall of Famers and league pioneers Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon as the “W” hailed its 30th anniversary.
Clark was one of eight Team Spoon players to finish in double figures in a 129-122 victory. She scored 11 of the team’s first 13 points on the way to a 17-point, four-rebound, five-assist effort.
She delivered a trio of deep 3-pointers in the first 2:23, connecting from a few feet inside the half-court line with the final trey of that sequence.
Grinning and occasionally sticking her tongue out as she jogged back down the floor in a familiar gesture, Clark channeled the jubilation of the moment plus some on reserve.
An injury kept her from the 2025 All-Star Game hosted by the Fever. The rival Chicago Sky last summer also shifted two regular-season games against Indiana from Wintrust Arena to United Center, but Clark was sidelined for those, too.
“Obviously, last year really stunk in it being in our home city. Like, you never want to miss that for the fans,” Clark said. “So, you know, I love to show up and get to compete and play.”
Clark’s popularity after a stellar collegiate career at Iowa has helped drive a surge in WNBA interest. Chicago also hosted the 2022 All-Star Game but kept it at Wintrust, where 9,572 fans showed up.
With fame comes what Obama called “immersion in nonsense” in a candid conversation with Clark that an observer shared to social media. The former president surprised All-Stars on Friday during practice at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Obama also playfully attempted to defend New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones, later the All-Star MVP.
Clark was set to travel back to Indiana after the game with the team flying to Seattle on Sunday ahead of Tuesday’s second-half opener.
With Indiana on a 5-1 tear entering the break, the joy figures to follow. Clark became the first player in league history to notch a 45-point, 10-assist game on July 17.
She and the Fever are set to return to the United Center when they face the Sky on Aug. 8.
“The reality is that that young lady brought so many people and so many eyes,” said Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 28 points for Team Coop, “but I think the transformation for us and the Indiana Fever was that we brought culture back. We brought a sense of purpose and the game.”
