Keep your mouth shut when it comes to money.
For ESPN and the increasingly popular national spectacle that is the WNBA playoffs, that means reserving a Sunday afternoon television slot and sending A-Team announcers Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo to Uncasville, Connecticut, where rookie phenom Caitlin Clark will make her long-awaited playoff debut on ABC at 3 p.m.
Number 22 has been raised from number 3.
I'm pulling out a chair.
Clark, a Rookie of the Year candidate, made an impressive comeback from a 1-8 start to lead the sixth-ranked Indiana Fever (20-20) to the postseason for the first time since 2016. The Fever went 9-5 after Clark was removed from the Olympic team and took a much-needed month off, setting the league's single-season assist record and setting multiple records for viewership and attendance.
The young, fast-paced team, third in the league in offensive efficiency behind Clark's 19.2 points and 8.4 assists per game, will now face a veteran-stuffed, physical foe: the No. 3 seed Connecticut Sun, who are tops the league in defense.
Clark cemented his deep cultural reputation during the March Madness.
What will she be able to do on stage in September?
“Once we get there, it'll become a little more real, and obviously we're not just going to be happy being there,” Clark said. “We really believe we can compete with any team in the playoffs.”
Please don't misunderstand.
There are plenty of other storylines to come in the playoffs. The top-seeded Liberty enter the match as the favorite to win the original franchise's first title. A'ja Wilson looks to lead the Las Vegas Aces to a third straight championship after having the best individual season in WNBA history. Diana Taurasi plays what could be the final game of her illustrious career for the Phoenix Mercuries.
But in terms of pure intrigue and attention, competition from the giants of the NFL, baseball's final days and a presidential election, nothing compares to the WNBA to witness Clark's next challenge, especially in a first round that traditionally lacks upsets.
The WNBA playoff format will be a best-of-three first round with the higher-seeded team hosting the first two games and the lower-seeded team potentially hosting the third game.
If the Fever can pull off a win at Connecticut, we can expect an exceptional atmosphere in Indianapolis on Friday. The team drew a league-best average crowd of 17,035 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, according to Across the Timeline.
“I've always thought this team this year was a playoff team,” Fever general manager Lin Dan recently told ESPN. “The question for me now is, what can we do in the playoffs? Do we have the age, wisdom, toughness and experience to surprise people?”
The Fever are rated slight underdogs (+150) in the series, no doubt influenced by betting by Clark supporters.
But as a measure of competitiveness, no other series comes close: the Seattle Storm are +375 against the fourth-seeded Aces, Taurasi's Mercury are 6/1 against the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx, and the Atlanta Dream are 13/1 against the powerhouse Liberty.
It's a precursor to a tight semifinal between the Liberty and Aces, a rematch of last year's WNBA finals, when Sabrina Ionescu vomited, Breanna Stewart missed a chance to score the winning point and stunned silence descended on Barclays Center.
The Lynx, who have emerged as Liberty's sharpest contender this season, are looming on the other side of the bracket unless The Sun has something to say.
Or, more interestingly, unless Clark, who has made a career out of living in the moment, and the emerging Fever, really take off.
It's going to be a box office hit.
