Caitlin Clark talks about her first ESPY.
The Fever’s all-star rookie, who watched the game from the comfort of her couch at home, received two awards: Best Record-Breaking Performance for becoming NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer as a senior at Iowa, and Best Collegiate Athlete in a female sport.
She made a virtual appearance at the live show held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The following Friday, before the Indiana-Mercury game, she answered questions about the show and spoke of her surprise as the first woman to receive the “record-breaking” award.
“Yeah, I didn’t know until my brother sent it to me this morning.” she said, according to Clutch Point’s Matthew Byrne. “I think it’s super cool. I don’t think I should have been the first woman to win this award because I grew up rooting for so many female athletes that I looked up to and loved.
“The number of records people have broken and won. To me, it’s crazy to even think about it, why has Serena Williams never won that award?”
“I hope this is the first step towards women being more recognised and their achievements being recognised more. It’s great, of course, but I honestly didn’t expect it to happen. But I’m really grateful for it.”
Clark expressed her appreciation for the widespread recognition given to women’s basketball through the ESPY Awards.
In addition to the two awards, Aces star and two-time defending WNBA champion A’ja Wilson won the women’s sport’s Most Outstanding Athlete award, beating out Clark, tennis star and defending U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff and professional golfer Nelly Korda.
JuJu Watkins also received the Breakthrough Athlete award after his breakthrough freshman season with the Southern California Trojans, leading them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
“What really stood out to me was how prominently women’s basketball was featured on the show, and I think it speaks to the future of women’s basketball, and women’s sports in general,” Clark said. [Williams] You did a great job as a host. I think you’re great. But for me, Juju is [Watkins] You won, Aja. [Wilson] We won, I won some. I think that shows the excitement and how many people are watching and paying attention and how this game is going to go.”
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, cracked plenty of jokes throughout the night, but made sure to poke fun at Clark when she first took to the stage.
“Kaitlin Clark had a great year and was nominated for three awards,” Williams began. “Kaitlin, you’re Larry Bird in that you’re a great player, you have the Indiana connection and white people are crazy about you.”
Some of Clark’s fans were less sympathetic.
“shame on you, @serenawilliams “What a terrible comment. Try harder,” one X user wrote.
Clarke may soon have a new award in her hands: Rookie of the Year, as she remains the favorite to win the award over former college rival Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky, who just recorded a league-record 15 consecutive double-double games.
Clark’s performance has Indiana, which started the season 2-9, in the running to make the playoffs as the seventh-best team in the league, just half a game behind Reese’s and the Sky, who are in eighth place and chasing the final spot.
Both players are the only rookies selected to the 2024 WNBA All-Star team.
