Caitlyn Clark Is Named TIME 2024 Athlete of the Year

WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is adding to her accolades after being named TIME’s 2024 Athlete of the Year.

The current WNBA Rookie of the Year owns the NCAA women’s scoring record and has already set assist records in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever in the WNBA. Clark’s career as an Iowa Hawkeye brought unprecedented interest and TV viewership to the college game, even though an NCAA title eluded her.

The TIME article, written by Sean Gregory, focuses on Clark’s record-breaking year and her impact.

"Good luck naming another player who altered the trajectory of their entire team sport within five months on the job," Gregory wrote.

"It’s one thing to rally around athletes during global spectacles like an Olympics or a World Cup. It’s quite another to turn routine regular-season games in the WNBA, a league neglected for far too long over its 27-year history, into appointment viewing."

The interview with Clark included her thoughts on the transition from the college game to the WNBA. Clark spoke about a gap in IQ.

"Professional players and professional coaches — this is no disrespect to college women’s basketball — are a lot smarter… If you go back and watch the way people guarded me in college, it’s almost, like, concerning… A lot of those women will never go on to play another basketball game in their life. They don’t have the IQ of understanding how the game works."

Clark also discussed her exclusion from the Paris Olympic roster as a "blessing" and that she’d use it as motivation throughout her entire career.

Although she missed out on a gold medal, Clark’s rookie season benefited from the month-long rest while Team USA competed and won gold in Paris. Her scoring, assists and shooting percentages all improved after the break, and Indiana went 9-5 to secure its first playoff berth in eight seasons. Playing in the Olympics remains a high priority for Clark.

She said making the team in 2028 is a "huge, huge goal." Given Clark’s rapid rate of improvement during her first pro season, it’s hard to imagine that her inclusion in 2028 will be controversial.