Caitlin Clark continued to break WNBA records on Saturday night, but Jason Whitlock argued that the rookie has been more of a hindrance than a help to the Indiana Fever.
At just 22 years old, Clark became the fastest player in the history of women’s professional basketball to reach 500 points and 200 assists, achieving this milestone just three months into her WNBA career with her 23 points and eight assists against the Minnesota Lynx.
However, she also committed seven more turnovers, bringing her season average to 5.6 per game—something Whitlock strongly criticized.
The sports columnist took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to criticize the No. 1 overall draft pick, accusing her of letting her team down.
“They need to stop making excuses for Caitlin Clark’s turnovers,” he wrote. “It’s sloppy and hurting her team.”
Whitlock wasn’t the only one to criticize Clark’s high turnover rate, but others defended the former Iowa Hawkeye, arguing that she compensates in other areas of the game.
“As I mentioned on this week’s ‘Skip Bayless Show,’ Caitlin has already broken the WNBA single-season record for turnovers with 12 games still remaining,” Skip Bayless posted on X Saturday night.
“But I forgive many of them because they’re so close to being spectacular passes. She also leads the league in assists … and delivers some WOW passes,” Bayless added.
Since Clark’s rough debut, where she set an unfortunate record with 10 turnovers, her assist-to-turnover ratio has significantly improved. It increased from 1.23 to 1 in May and June to 2.19 to 1 in the eight games since July 1.
At just 22, Clark continues to set new records almost weekly. On August 18, she broke the WNBA’s single-season rookie record for assists, reaching 232 and ending Ticha Penicheiro’s 26-year reign as the record holder.
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