Christine Brennan, who chronicled Caitlin Clark’s rise in her book ON HER GAME: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports, has whipped up a debate online. The NYT bestselling author posted this year’s WNBA All-Star starter list and pointed out the players have ranked Clark 11th in the league during voting, down from 9th last year. The response has shone the spotlight on what Kelsey Plum said about expectations in 2022.

While Brennan highlighted that players ranked Clark below the top 10 despite her being “2nd in the WNBA in assists per game and T-4th in points per game,” X handle ‘Apex Jones HACKED’ revealed how Kelsey Plum, who is shooting “10% better from the field, 4% better from deep,” than Clark, was ranked 12th. That’s when another user highlighted how players’ current voting patterns mirror the challenges Plum spoke about four years ago.

“I definitely think the expectations of being a No.1 pick are brutal. Especially if you haven’t set the hype for media coming out of college. It is just brutal,” she said on the June 16, 2022 episode of the Role Player Podcast.

“I learned the hard way, but that’s real. I think that would’ve been better in some ways because I have been little bit more under the radar, but in other ways, I definitely think that, you know, having that type of struggle and adversity has prepared me for the moment I’m in now,” she added in the clip @TheLukaVerse shared.

Kelsey Plum and Caitlin Clark came into the WNBA as generational talents. They set the gold standard during their respective college career. While Plum has already won a couple of WNBA Championships, Clark, since making her debut in 2024, has made it to the All-Star list three times consecutively.

Even this season, the landscape is no different. Both rank in the top 10 in points and assists per WNBA.com. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Alexa Phillipou has stated that these lower rankings might be due to fewer players casting their votes.

“A little less than half of the WNBA player body submitted voting ballots for starters ahead of this month’s All-Star Game,” a post by Phillipou read. “Some Los Angeles Sparks players did not receive their ballots, which teams are responsible for distributing.”

Nevertheless, Kelsey Plum can still become an All-Star this season if the coaches vote to pick her as one of the 12 reserves. Meanwhile, Clark will be a starter in the All-Star game because of her higher media (3) and fan rankings (2) among the guards.