Jon Wertheim makes curious remark to Caitlin Clark about WNBA ‘breakthrough’ on ’60 Minutes’

The complete WNBA — not Caitlin Clark — was the breakout star of the season, CBS “60 Minutes” journalist Jon Wertheim stated throughout Sunday evening’s episode.

Wertheim broke down the rise of the WNBA and spoke to Clark, her teammate Aliyah Boston, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for the piece by which he known as the Rookie of the Yr “unquestionably the league’s major attraction, however not the one one.”

“The actual breakthrough star of this WNBA season is the W itself,” Wertheim stated. “Constructing off a school season by which was unimaginable just some years in the past, the ladies’s championship sport outdrew the boys. W video games can draw extra eyeballs than NBA video games do.

“League broad, attendance is up 48%.”

But it surely was Clark who set the bar this season and arguably put collectively the perfect rookie season the WNBA has ever seen. Clark didn’t win the MVP and Rookie of the Yr in the identical seasons like Candace Parker did with the Los Angeles Sparks, however she rewrote the document books a number of instances.

Clark grew to become the primary rookie in WNBA historical past to have a minimum of 25 factors, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a playoff sport when she did it in Recreation 2 of the playoff matchup in opposition to the Connecticut Solar. To be honest, Wertheim interviewed Clark earlier than the playoffs started.

Regardless, she was the primary rookie to document a triple-double when she performed in opposition to the New York Liberty in July. She was additionally the primary participant in WNBA historical past to perform the feat in opposition to a workforce that was in first place within the standings.

She set a single-game document for assists when she put up 19 in opposition to the Dallas Wings. She set the single-season document for assists with 337 in whole when the season ended.

Clark set the rookie document for many 3-pointers made in a single season with 122 – the second most in a single season. She was additionally the primary participant in WNBA historical past to have a number of profession video games with a minimum of 25 factors, 10 assists and 5 3-pointers made.

These information are solely the tip of the iceberg, to not point out she was the unanimous AP WNBA Rookie of the Yr.

When it comes to rankings, Clark and the Fever have been must-watch TV.

Fox Sports activities’ Michael Mulvihill underscored that time with statistics this month. He wrote on X that Caitlin Clark video games drew in 1.178 million whereas all different video games drew in 394,000, a 199% distinction.

The breakout star is evident, and he or she averaged 19.2 factors, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per sport and completed fourth in MVP voting.