An exhausted Caitlin Clark revealed she plans on playing a different sport in the offseason to take her mind off basketball after the Indiana Fever‘s Cinderella run ended in an 87-81 loss to Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of their WNBA playoff series.
“I was focused on beating the Connecticut Sun, I hadn’t thought too far down the line,” Clark told reporters. “I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, I don’t know what I’m going to do the next day. Maybe play some golf. I think that’s what I’m gonna do until it becomes too cold in Indiana. I’ll become a professional golfer.”
Her teammate Aliyah Boston was quick to quip: “Not too much, babe.”
The Fever would like Clark to focus as well on bouncing back for the next season.
Caitlin Clark Welcomes Long Break From Basketball
Clark has taken the WNBA by storm. And it has been a whirlwind transition for her from college after starring in Iowa.
She welcomes the offseason break as she does not plan to play overseas like most of the WNBA players do to compensate for their meager salary.
Clark can afford to lay low as her multi-million endorsement deals dwarfed her $76,535 salary in her rookie year. She welcomes the long break, which she did not enjoy after the NCAA tournament going into the WNBA.
“I feel like basketball has consumed my life for a year or so,” Clark told reporters. “It will be good for me to kind of reflect back on everything that’s happened. I feel like I didn’t have time to really reflect back on my college career because it ended so fast and then I came here and was trying to give everything I could to this team and kind of move on and put all that behind me and help this team get back to the playoffs.”
The offseason provides Clark more downtime to reflect on what she has accomplished over the past year and the dramatic changes in her life.
“I feel like taking some to myself and enjoying that and reflecting back — it was special,” Clark added. “There were a lot of things this group accomplished that a lot of people probably didn’t think was possible, one to start the season and two, after the start we had to the season. It will definitely be probably a little weird for me over the course of the first couple of weeks and then I’m sure I’ll get bored and pick up a basketball again.”
Caitlin Clark Makes History
Clark, the No. 1 overall draft pick, backed up the hype as she finished her rookie season with averages of 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game this season.
She broke several WNBA rookie records along the way.
Clark had the most assists for a rookie, dishing out 337. She also broke the single-game record for assists with 19. She also became the first rookie to record a triple-double and hit the most 3-pointers with 122, which is the second-most in any WNBA season by a player.
According to ESPN, Clark’s 337 points were also the most points by any point guard in a single WNBA season. She was also the first WNBA rookie to be named Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month in the same month and to produce 20+ points, 15+ assists and 5+ rebounds in a game.
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Caitlin Clark Reveals Plan to Play Different Sport After Draining WNBA Season