These are just some of the WNBA players who have had impressive, eye-opening rookie seasons.

Add to that list Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Not since Parker—who went on to be the first and only player to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season—has a rookie impacted the League and everyone and everything around it as much as Clark.

Call it the Caitlin Clark Effect.

SLAM 252 featuring Caitlin Clark is available now.

Record-breaking performances. Game sell-outs across the country. Fans packing up and traveling wherever she goes. More eyeballs than ever on the W. Clark has been the talk of the W.

But there’s a flip side to it, too. Heated arguments and debates on sports talk shows and across social media are nonstop, all about Clark and her effect on the League. Is she getting too much press? Is she being painted as the WNBA savior when there are other players who have been here holding up the League for so long? Depends on who you ask—and the time of day you ask.

One could argue that never has so much pressure been put on a player coming into the League. Expectations were high from the jump, even while Clark was still in college at Iowa. There, she set the NCAA Division I scoring record with 3,951 total points. A lightning quick point guard with fast hands, she also became the Big Ten’s all-time assist leader (1,144) and hit the most three- pointers in a single season with 201. So, coming into the League, all eyes were expectedly on her.

But, ironically, Clark has not said much about the hype and fanfare surrounding her first season in the W. She appears to have chosen, instead, to just play her game and seemingly be content with breaking record after record after record and helping her Indiana Fever team do the same. All the while, she is assisting in a brand of excitement for women’s basketball, the likes of which haven’t been seen in a while.

The list of WNBA records broken by Clark is long and exhaustive. There are almost too many to name. They include setting the WNBA single-game assist record (19) against the Dallas Wings, recording the first triple-double for a rookie in WNBA history against the New York Liberty, and breaking the record for most assists in a season by a rookie.

You can’t leave out tying the rookie single-game three-pointers record—Clark made seven of those early in the season in the Fever’s game against the Washington Mystics. Other records include 21 games with at least 15 points and 5 assists, the most ever in a single WNBA season, and becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to record 400 points, 100 rebounds and 150 assists in a season.

Clark was also named to the WNBA All-Star Game in July and finished with 10 assists, the most by a rookie in the prestigious game’s history.

This unbelievable rookie season has also included a not-so-great statistic: She recorded the most turnovers in a debut game in WNBA history, with 10 in the Fever’s opener against the Connecticut Sun. She also has the most turnovers in a single season by any player in WNBA history. There’s definitely work to be done in that department, but overall, the Caitlin Clark Effect can’t be denied.

And it has extended beyond just her individual game.

The Fever clinched its first playoff spot since 2016 and currently sit at No. 6 as we head to print. In addition, the WNBA announced that the 2025 All-Star Game will take place in Indianapolis. The 21st WNBA All-Star Game, set for Saturday, July 19, 2025, marks the first time that Indy will host the League’s midseason showcase.

The Fever—already on an upward trajectory after last year’s acquisition of No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston, along with Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull and NaLyssa Smith—have soared to new heights with the addition of Clark. This starting five earned a playoff spot after going on a hot streak following the Olympic break, rattling off seven wins in eight games. Collectively, they have transformed into a team whose ceiling keeps rising.

Hot shooting from Hull has landed her in first place in the League in three-point percentage (49.2 percent). Mitchell, who has been on her own personal tear this summer, is fifth in three-pointers made this season (96) and ninth in points per game. Clark is the assists leader, averaging 8.5 per game and is first in the League in three-pointers made at 111. Boston is fifth in field-goal percentage (52.8 percent) and eighth in blocks per game (1.3).

In August, the Fever led the entire League in scoring (89.7 ppg) and hit a season-best 100 points in a win against the Chicago Sky on August 30. Indiana also knocked down the most three-point field goals in the month with 72.

On August 16, the Fever beat the Phoenix Mercury 98-89, marking the first time since the 2015 regular season that Indiana has swept its regular-season series with Phoenix. Less than two weeks later, Indiana toppled the Sun, 84-80, for the first time since 2021.

The team’s success has also extended to its coach, Christie Sides, who formally entered the Coach of the Year chat and was named WNBA Coach of the Month for August after guiding the Fever to a 5-1 record. Sides is the first head coach in franchise history to earn the honor.

Clark has racked up accolades League-wide as well. In August, she was named both WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month and WNBA Rookie of the Month. It was the third time she earned Rookie of the Month honors, having also received the recognition in May and July, while marking the first time she was named Player of the Month. She was recently recognized as the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time in her young career, and she also leads her rookie class in scoring, assists, steals, free-throw shooting and minutes played. And on September 13, she broke the WNBA’s all-time assists record, previously held by the legendary Ticha Penicheiro.

The player many call the female Stephen Curry has been under the microscope since before she entered the League, and the heat has been turned up all season long. Whether you agree or not, whether you’re a fan or not, Clark has dealt with the pressure, lived up to the expectations (even exceeded them in many ways) and has cemented her name in the sport after only one year as a pro.

The Caitlin Clark experience has only just begun but it’s already in full effect

Buckle up.

Photos via Getty Images.

The post Simply Undeniable: Caitlin Clark Covers SLAM 252 appeared first on SLAM.

Cynt Marshall is used to making history. She’s done it many, many times.

She was the first Black female senior class president at her high school back in Richmond, California; one of the first Black cheerleaders at the University of California-Berkeley—where she graduated with degrees in Business Administration and Human Resources Management—and the first African-American chair of the North Carolina State Chamber of Commerce.

“Usually, when I am the first I don’t know I am the first until someone tells me,” Marshall tells SLAM. “I am just doing what I do, or if someone approaches me and it feels like a good fit, we go for it; like the job I am in right now.

In 2018, Marshall became the first Black female CEO in NBA history when she joined the Dallas Mavericks. 

“I like to say Mark Cuban wasn’t trying to make history, he was trying to make a difference. He didn’t think about—I didn’t think about that. And then when I was told that I was the first African-American CEO of an NBA team, I actually didn’t believe it,” says Marshall. “I thought, this is 2018. I can’t be the first.”

But she was and is. And it’s a position that the 62-year-old has embraced with gusto, pride and enthusiasm.

“It just means we are blazing trails and it’s an opportunity for me to do a great job, and that is what I am focused on,” says Marshall, who has led the Dallas Mavericks franchise since March of 2018.

As chief executive officer of the Mavs, Marshall spends her days running the day-to-day operations of the franchise owned by billionaire Mark Cuban since 2000. After strategy sessions, appearances and meetings, she’ll then head over to the team’s home arena, American Airlines Center, and sit in her honorary seat—right behind the team’s bench. Back in February, Marshall was there, dressed in her trademark Mavs blue, waving and greeting everyone, who she mostly knows by name, 45 minutes before tip-off. 

“My energy comes from the Lord. The Lord sustains me. You know the song, ‘This joy I have, the world didn’t give it to me?’ Well, it’s the same with the strength I have. I get tired like everyone else,” Marshall says. “The Lord gave it to me. Especially after he blessed me to come through cancer. I am running and I’m not tired yet—we got work to do.”

Marshall’s success is a testament to her unwavering strength and resiliency—in 2010, she was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, and this summer will mark eleven years since she went through chemotherapy. 

Marshall had chronicled her battle with cancer in a journal, but at the request of many, decided to write an autobiography, which will be out later this year. 

“That was on my bucket list; to be an author. My mother’s response when I told her I had cancer was, This is for His Glory. God will use your cancer to tell a great story about Him,” Marshall recalls. “We will see what the world says about it. It is truly to inspire people. So many of us are touched by cancer and I want people to know the good, bad and ugly about that story. I can’t wait for [people] to read it.” 

Marshall arrived at the Mavs after a 36-year career with AT&T, where she led the organization in various roles while improving diversity and work-place culture practices. She brought a vision to Dallas for it to become the NBA standard for inclusion and diversity, guided by a set of specific values: character, respect, authenticity, fairness, teamwork and safety, both physically and emotionally. “Everything we do, everything we respond to, our business plan, everything, it’s all based on these sets of values. I love the people at the Mavs. We are like the best sports organization on the planet and I work with some wonderful people.”

She leads the Mavs, and her own life, through the lens of her faith and a spirit of servant leadership. “I am called to serve others and I’m inspired to help others.”

As the mother of four adopted children, Marshall also serves as chair of Dallas Casa, a non-profit organization that advocates for abused and neglected children. “I want us to be about saving kids, serving them and placing them in permanent, safe homes with caring adults. We have to save these kids.”

She wants the next generation of young girls, and boys, to know that they, too, can accomplish anything they want in life. 

“I want them to know they should do anything they want to do and the key is if they want to do it,” Marshall says when reflecting on what message she would send to adolescents. “When I was growing up, my mom taught me a poem that says “Be The Best.” The message is [that] no matter what you want to do, whatever your  passions are, where the Lord takes you, just be the best and know that you can do anything. 

“Once you decide what that is or land in that spot, then be the best,” Marshall continues. “Don’t put any limits on yourself. No limits.”

Her story has become an inspiration to many, including Poizon Ivy, the Mavs’ In-house entertainment guru. “Growing up, my dream was to be the first female NBA commissioner, so having Cynt in her role as the first black female CEO continues to affirm that anything and everything is possible,” says Ivy. “She leads with an incomparable style, infused with swag, humility, confidence, [and] accountability all at an extremely infectious level.

“There is not a time that I am out in the community that I am not complimented on how lucky we are to work under her leadership and guidance. That is the kind of leader I aspire to be and she makes it look so easy and effortless.”

While she’s the first Black female CEO in the NBA, Marshall strongly believes that there will be many, many more women in top sports management roles. And she’s working hard to ensure that happens. 

“Yes, there will be more. We aren’t doing our jobs to the fullest if it’s not. That’s what I love about being in this League, in the NBA. We’re very focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and very focused on that pipeline and making sure we’re bringing others up and giving them those experiences so they’ll be successful. 

“We know we are better together when we have a diverse group of people around the table with unique skills.” 

When she thinks about the strength of women in the world today, Marshall envisions a triangle with each side representing a woman’s heart, hands and head. 

“Women know how to take their heart, hands and head, put it all together and do something great with it. We have passion and compassion; we are smart, resilient, we know how to make a dollar out of 15 cents. We’re very thoughtful. 

“When you take our hands, head and heart and we use them to work together, this is what makes you strong,” Marshall says. “We don’t rely on just one or the other, we know how to make them all work together for good. This is our strength.”

Photos courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks.

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