WNBA declines Caitlin Clark, as their No1 overall pick bec…
Talking inanely about the influence of a generational athlete is cliché, but to those who truly experience it, it’s never cliché. This bunch of eleven-year-old girls just demonstrated as much by laughing at a volume only preteens can. They find it incomprehensible that Cameron Brink, the rookie No. 2 overall choice of the Los Angeles Sparks, acknowledged them when he was casually seated across the floor during pregame warmups. “She gave a wave! I’m going to cry, guys,” a girl said.
blurts frantically to her basketball teammates at Genesis. Brink is likewise delighted, grinning and laughing, as though realizing the power she possesses. Three of the girls traveled two and a half hours from Temecula, California to Los Angeles’ sold-out Crypto.com Arena for the Fever’s (1-5) 78-73 victory over the Sparks (1-3) on Friday night, May 24. Two of the girls are wearing the No. 22 jersey of 2024 WNBA No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark.
The night was defined by firsts. Following an agonizing 0–5 start to the season, Clark achieved her first victory in the WNBA. At Crypto.com Arena, Brink and Rickea Jackson—the Sparks’ fourth-round selection in 2024—enjoyed their first home game. A franchise-record 19,103 Sparks fans witnessed Brink and Clark square off for the first time, with each receiving the loudest, most intense applause of any player on their respective teams throughout the evening.
