Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese: Who has the better case for WNBA Rookie of the Year?

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The WNBA Rookie of the Year race is shaping up to be one of the closest in years. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 overall draft pick, and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, the No. 7 pick, lead the debate after Cameron Brink’s season ended due to injury.

Historically, the ROY voting delivers a clear-cut winner. The last close race was in 2019 between Napheesa Collier, the Minnesota Lynx’s No. 6 pick, and Arike Ogunbowale, the Dallas Wings’ No. 5 pick. Collier won with 29 of the max 43 points, while Ogunbowale pulled the rest. They have each gone on to prolific careers and participated in the 2024 All-Star game. Ogunbowale won MVP for Team WNBA and Collier played limited minutes returning from a foot injury for Team USA.

The 2015 season was also close between Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd (21 points) and Kiah Stokes (16), with Natalie Achonwa pulling two votes away. And 2014 featured Chiney Ogwumike (23) beating out Odyssey Sims (12), Kayla McBride (2) and Shoni Schimmel (1).

Ogwumike and Schimmel were the last rookie duo voted to an All-Star game before Clark and Reese this month. Schimmel earned MVP with a then-record 29 points along with eight assists. Back in Phoenix this year, Clark set a rookie assists record and Reese secured a double-double.

Yahoo Sports broke down the cases for and against Clark and Reese in the Rookie of the Year race, and what each can do to strengthen their candidacies.

(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The Case for Caitlin Clark

Clark is tasked with doing more for her team than any rookie in the class, including those veteran first-year players with time overseas. And she’s doing it well, even if it’s not to the standard fans have become accustomed to when she played in the Big Ten. The level of talent in the WNBA was never going to allow for that immediate scoring success, nor is that what the Fever need from her. Plus, she’s facing the most defensive pressure any rookie might have ever seen in league history.

The Fever needed a floor general to feed reigning Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston and former No. 2 overall draft pick NaLyssa Smith, as well as find guards Kelsey Mitchell and Katie Lou Samuelson on the wing. And she’s done that incredibly well.

Already, she owns the franchise’s single-season assists record and secured her first career triple-double. It was the first triple-double by a rookie in the league’s 28-year history. The game before the break, she broke Courtney Vandersloot’s WNBA single-game assists record with 19.

At the All-Star game, she led Team WNBA to a strong first half and fell one assist shy of Sue Bird’s All-Star record. The rookie could have had the mark if she played more down the stretch, but Clark waved off subbing back in for Ogunbowale’s record performance.

Clark leads the league in assists, lifting the Fever from 11th in assists (18 apg) to sixth this year (20.2). Those numbers could be higher as teammates aren’t always expecting Clark’s passes, though recently players are more prepared for her behind-the-back bounces on drives to the basket. In seven of Clark’s past nine games, she’s had double-digit assists and all were double-doubles.

Her current average would break the rookie record set by legendary point guard Ticha Penicheiro (7.5 apg for Sacramento, 1998) and make her only the fourth rookie averaging at least six assists per game. Not even Sue Bird or Dawn Staley accomplished it in their first years. It would also stand as the fifth-best in league history, trailing four seasons by Vandersloot (’18-21).

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark leads the WNBA in assists. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Team success usually doesn’t play into a Rookie of the Year race, but it’s notable how Clark has changed this franchise within three months. The Fever are two wins away from tying their 2023 record, which was their best since 2019 (when the season was six fewer games). Three wins over the final 15 games, and the Fever will have their best record since 2016 (17-17) when Tamika Catchings was on the court. In the past month, four of their wins are against teams with .500 or better records, including league-leader New York and Commissioner’s Cup champion Minnesota. Clark was pivotal in those victories.

Among rookies, her numbers are almost unilaterally the best. She leads Reese in scoring average by nearly four points with a shooting line of 40.5/32.7/89.1. Her free-throw percentage leads the class (of those attempting at least one per game) as does her 1.5 steals per game (which is tied with Reese). She ranks fourth in blocks (0.8), double Reese’s average.

Clark has more responsibility and a trickier learning curve as a rookie point guard for a franchise mired in disappointment over the past half-decade. And even with that weight of leading the offense, she’s breaking franchise and league marks most weeks. Clark will go down as having one of the best rookie seasons in point guard history.