Caitlin Clark receives the ultimate sign of hate from a rival during a moment of celebration

The WNBA’shistoric season in ratings, merchandise sales, and arena sellouts resumed last Thursday, marking the return of all teams after a month-long Olympic break. With about 15 games left for each team and exactly one month until the regular season ends, the only certainty is that the league-leading New York Liberty (23-4), who boast a 9-1 record in their last 10 games, are the only team that has clinched a playoff berth.

Clark vs. Liberty Bench

In yesterday’s dominant 92-75 win by the Indiana Fever (13-15) over the Seattle Storm (17-10), Caitlin Clark once again proved she’s the top contender for the Rookie of the Year award, scoring 23 points and dishing out nine assists. Those nine assists made her the rookie with the most assists in WNBA history, surpassing Ticha Penicheiro, and she still has 12 games left in her season. In the closing moments of the game, there was a brief altercation between the Storm’s bench and Clark when it appeared that Clark was irritating the Storm players by hyping up the home crowd in front of their bench. A Storm player seemed to speed up just to bump into Clark, as seen clearly in the video.

After the shove, Clark was seen telling the Storm bench to “stop crying” and was so fired up that a teammate had to hold her back in the final seconds of the game. Although it’s unclear what exactly was said between the sides, Clark’s attitude shows she’s fired up and ready to prove that being left off the Olympic team might have been a mistake. After her longest break in over a year, she’s rested, reset, and laser-focused, determined to show she’s the real deal and the future of the league-if anyone still needs convincing.

Clark’s Performance So Far

In 28 games this season, Clark is not only considered the favorite for Rookie of the Year by betting odds but also the third favorite (+8000) for MVP, trailing only A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces (17-9) and Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty. Her extraordinary numbers in these first 28 games speak for themselves. After yesterday’s win, Clark secured her 11th game-and her fourth consecutive one-with 20+ points and 5+ assists. She also leads the league in assists (8.3 APG) and is second in minutes played per game (35.2), along with averaging 17.8 points and 5.8 rebounds. Her only “flaw” might be that she leads the WNBA in turnovers, though not all of them are her fault.