A’ja Wilson and Becky Hammon Disprove the Caitlin Clark Effect by Justifying the “Boiling Point”

College basketball saw new heights of popularity in the women’s division this past year. For many, the one individual who was the catalyst behind all the hype was Caitlin Clark. Following this, she carried on all the craze for the sport in the professional realm. However, not everyone gives the entire credit of it to the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer.

Fresh off a resounding win over the Minnesota Lynx, the Aces’ coach Becky Hammon, and 2023 WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson evaluated the aforementioned point further. In the postgame press conference Hammon said, “If you’re just a recent follower of women’s basketball, this has been brewing for a while. Women’s basketball has been at this boiling point, building, building and building. Our arena was sold out long before Caitlin was coming into the league.” 

The Las Vegas Aces have sold out 15 out of their 20 home games this time around. This number turns out to be the most in the WNBA history. In addition to this, the Michelob Ultra Arena set a team attendance record with the help of a sellout crowd of 10,419 in their season opener against the Phoenix Mercury. This is after the 17,406 fans made a franchise record at the T-Mobile Arena in the previous season the last time these two teams locked horns.

Hammon further iterated on it by adding, “She’s part of a tipping point. Right? She’s coming in at this time when it is ready to tip over. Her presence has tipped some things over but there’s been a lot of good work going on behind the scenes to get us to this point by a lot of other people.” A’ja Wilson seems to agree with her head coach as she was nodding the whole time.

In the meantime, the Aces will have to wait for some time before they go against Caitlin Clark.

The long wait for the fans before Caitlin Clark takes on the defending champions

The Las Vegas Aces clearly were in the driving seat the last time they faced Indiana. Moreover, they also had a way to contain the 6-foot-guard as she could only register in single digits for the night. (8 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) Now, the Aces supporters will have a glimpse of Clark on July 2nd.

The primary reason behind this is the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup that will kick off next month. The tournament will feature only intra-conference fixtures. Having said that, both these franchises can go against each other in the championship game on June 25th if they finish at the top of their respective conferences.

Fans would absolutely love to see them again soon. Anyhow, both teams are so far witnessing contrasting fortunes in the league at the moment. Will Indiana turn some tides in their favor before they meet again? Only time will tell.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.