Even though the Indiana Fever suffered a 78-74 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Friday night, Caitlin Clark still left her mark with a historic night.
At the 4:55 mark of the second quarter, Clark hit Kelsey Mitchell on an inbound pass for a two-point floater, marking her 317th assist in her rookie season. This passed Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas (316) for the most assists in one season in WNBA history.
The new record gained the attention of one of the best passers in NBA history, Chris Paul, who sent Clark a message on social media congratulating her.
“Congrats on breaking the WNBA record Caitlin Clark,” Paul said on his Instagram story with a salute emoji.
Chris Paul shouts out Caitlin Clark’s assist record pic.twitter.com/dQpIiG1m0z
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) September 14, 2024
Paul used a State Farm graphic as well with the quote, “You were born to assist.” Both point guards have worked with the insurance company for some time now, Clark for a year and Paul for 12. They have both appeared in multiple advertisements as well.
Paul, a former Wake Forest Demon Deacons standout, has bounced around the NBA throughout his career. He now finds himself on the San Antonio Spurs after one season with the Golden State Warriors. Throughout his long basketball career, Paul has accumulated 11,894 assists, good for third-most in NBA history. He will likely surpass Jason Kidd (12,091) for second in the upcoming season.
This was not the first record Clark had broken during her first WNBA season. She has the only two triple-doubles by a rookie in league history, the most single-game assists with 19 and the most three-pointers ever by a rookie.
With the playoffs looming, Clark and the Fever find themselves at 19-19 after losing their last two games. In all likelihood, they will land with the sixth seed in their first postseason appearance since 2016.
