This time last year, when asked to name five women’s basketball players, most would stutter, name one or two, and then quit. But now in 2024, that is not the case at all. The 2024 class has absolutely revolutionized women’s basketball, and it will likely be here to stay.
This blowup can almost be directly attributed to one person. Caitlin Clark. Now a household name, she blew up this year for Iowa, averaging 31.6 points per game, 8.9 assists per game, and 7.4 rebounds per game. These are insane stats, especially since the college is known for having lower-scoring games compared to the league. Because of these amazing stats, it shifted the media attention to focus more on the game of women’s basketball. You couldn’t go a single scroll on Instagram without seeing something about women’s march madness, and that was amazing for the sport.
Other players started joining the scene and getting media attention. Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Paige Bueckers, and many others started getting nearly the same amount of media attention as the men’s game. Some could argue that this year, the women’s college basketball tournament was more interesting than the men’s.
Most of this class has now moved on to the WNBA, with Caitlin Clark being drafted first pick. Caitlin Clark broke the record for the most jerseys bought on draft night when she went first overall to the Indiana Fever. Even though Caleb Williams broke this just weeks later, it is still very impressive that a huge amount of people have gotten a sparked interest for the WNBA. This could be amazing for the sport, as before it has not been able to get the media attention for it to succeed. The sport has crumbled because they don’t get the viewers for it to be a successful league. Because of this, the NBA gives the WNBA money each year to keep it afloat, and players are not paid nearly as much as they deserve. This could change very soon. With players like Caitlin Clark now being household names, viewership has risen which means bigger salaries and larger profits can be in the future for female players and the league overall. As a result of this 2024 class being one of the biggest and most popular in history, the sport has blown up like no other sport in recent years, making the future of the WNBA bright and exciting for viewers.
