Fever’s Caitlin Clark wins 2024 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year Award
NEW YORK – Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been named the 2024 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year, the WNBA announced today. She gives the Fever back-to-back winners of the annual award after Indiana forward-center Aliyah Boston earned the honor last season.
Clark received 66 votes from a national panel of 67 sportswriters and broadcasters. Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese received one vote.
As a starter in all 40 of Indiana’s regular-season games, Clark averaged 19.2 points, a WNBA-high 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.33 steals and 35.4 minutes, leading rookies in all five of those per-game categories except rebounding (third). In addition to posting the fifth-highest single-season assists average in WNBA history, Clark ranked seventh in the league in points, 18th in rebounds, 15th in steals and second in minutes per game. She also had the second-highest free throw percentage in the WNBA (90.6%).
Clark set a WNBA single-season record with 337 assists. She also established WNBA single-season rookie records of 769 points and 122 three-pointers made. Clark led the league in three-pointers made and finished six behind the WNBA single-season record of 128 set by New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu last season.
A starter for Team WNBA in the 2024 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, Clark was named the Kia WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for August, the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week three consecutive times (Weeks 9, 10 and 11) and the Kia WNBA Rookie of the Month four times (May, July, August and September).
Behind Clark and fellow 2024 WNBA All-Stars Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, the Fever (20-20) earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2016 and improved its win total by seven games over last season (13-27).
Below are additional highlights of Clark’s 2024 regular season:
- Recorded the first two triple-doubles by a rookie in WNBA history – 19 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists against New York on July 6; and 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sept. 4.
- Set a WNBA single-game record with 19 assists against the Dallas Wings on July 17.
- Became the first WNBA rookie to have at least 30 points and 10 assists in a game (31 points and 12 assists against Chicago on Aug. 30).
- Posted 14 games with at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists and eight games with at least 20 points and 10 assists – both WNBA single-season highs.
- Averaged 24.7 points and 9.3 assists in her first 10 games after the Paris Olympics break – an 8-2 stretch for Indiana that featured its first five-game winning streak since 2015.
Clark was selected by the Fever with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm. She had a historic career at the University of Iowa, breaking the NCAA Division I points record, becoming the first Division I player to lead her conference in both scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons, and earning consensus Division I Player of the Year honors for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
In honor of being named the 2024 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year, Clark will receive $5,150 and a trophy designed to commemorate the achievement.
Below are the voting results for the 2024 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year Award and a list of past recipients.
Player | Team | Votes |
Caitlin Clark | Indiana Fever | 66 |
Angel Reese | Chicago Sky | 1 |
KIA WNBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS | ||
1998 – Tracy Reid, Charlotte 1999 – Chamique Holdsclaw, Washington 2000 – Betty Lennox, Minnesota 2001 – Jackie Stiles, Portland 2002 – Tamika Catchings, Indiana 2003 – Cheryl Ford, Detroit 2004 – Diana Taurasi, Phoenix 2005 – Temeka Johnson, Washington 2006 – Seimone Augustus, Minnesota |
2007 – Armintie Price, Chicago 2008 – Candace Parker, Los Angeles 2009 – Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta 2010 – Tina Charles, Connecticut 2011 – Maya Moore, Minnesota 2012 – Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles 2013 – Elena Delle Donne, Chicago 2014 – Chiney Ogwumike, Connecticut 2015 – Jewell Loyd, Seattle |
2016 – Breanna Stewart, Seattle 2017 – Allisha Gray, Dallas 2018 – A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas 2019 – Napheesa Collier, Minnesota 2020 – Crystal Dangerfield, Minnesota 2021 – Michaela Onyenwere, New York 2022 – Rhyne Howard, Atlanta 2023 – Aliyah Boston, Indiana 2024 – Caitlin Clark, Indiana |