Caitlin Clark and her fans got to experience some poetic justice Monday when the University of Iowa basketball phenom shattered WNBA star Diana Taurasi’s draft viewership total.
Taurasi appears to not be a Clark fan.
USA Today reported that viewership for 2024 WNBA draft averaged 2.45 million and peaked at over 3 million.
The previous record was 600,000 when the Phoenix Mercury drafted three-time University of Connecticut champion Taurasi as the overall No. 1 draft pick in 2004.
During Monday’s telecast, the Indiana Fever selected Clark as the first pick in the league.
The University of Iowa senior broke the NCAA women’s scoring record during this past season and led the Hawkeyes to their second straight national championship game.
Other notable stars in this year’s draft were No. 2 pick Cameron Brink (Los Angeles Sparks), No. 3 pick Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky), No. 4 pick Rickea Jackson (Sparks) and No. 7 pick Angel Reese (Sky), according to USA Today.
2.45 million viewers for the WNBA draft
Sheesh pic.twitter.com/bQWBT6XpVx
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) April 16, 2024
Reese, who played for Louisiana State University, faced off against Clark and the Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight.
Iowa prevailed, but would ultimately lose in the championship game to Cardoso and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
“This is a generational class,” said Jackson, who played for the University of Tennessee, regarding the current up-and-coming rookie WNBA players.
“Viewership is peaking. Women’s basketball is on an uproar. Everybody is tuning in. … I’m just grateful to be a part of this draft class. I feel like we’re just trending in the right direction,” she added.
The WNBA Draft number is in:
2.45M viewers—nearly 5x the year-ago number (512,000) and +307% vs the previous record in 2004 (Dana Taurasi, 601,000 viewers). pic.twitter.com/WmXVeYG6HJ
— Sportico (@Sportico) April 16, 2024
That said, Taurasi has been less than glowing in her appraisal of Clark.
On the “Bird & Taurasi Show,” which she co-hosts with fellow UConn alum Sue Bird, the two were asked who they would pick in this year’s draft to build a WNBA franchise, Clark or UConn’s Paige Bueckers. The latter wasn’t even in this year’s class, but is likely to go No. 1 next year, USA Today reported.
Bird picked Clark, saying, “the fan energy behind Caitlin is going to be a game-changer for a WNBA franchise.”
Taurasi brusquely responded, “I’m taking Paige, next question.”
“I’m taking Paige, next question” pic.twitter.com/6Uc65lHFIU
— UConnWBBy90 (@UConnWBBy90) April 6, 2024
Additionally, Taurasi, 41, told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt following Iowa’s victory over UConn in this year’s semi-final match-up that Clark and others are in for a rude awakening when they start playing in the WNBA.
“Reality is coming,” she said. “There’s levels to this thing and that’s just life, we all went through it. … You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”
Clark and Taurasi are scheduled to face off for the first time when Indiana plays Phoenix on June 30 in Arizona. No doubt many more fans will be there because of Clark’s presence.
