With the playoffs right around the corner, the WNBA MVP race is starting to heat up. A’ja Wilson remains the obvious name at the top. She currently leads the league with 26.1 PPG while continuing to anchor one of the best defenses. But Caitlin Clark has made a strong push of her own, and while her latest run has even seen her leave LeBron James behind in the history books, analyst Rachel DeMita believes there is still a reason she isn’t a unanimous MVP choice.
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“Caitlin Clark had a relatively slow start to the season, and I say that in terms of Caitlin Clark’s standard. She just wasn’t looking like herself at the beginning of the season. In the past 10 to 15 games, I would say this is the best Caitlin Clark that we’ve ever seen,” DeMita said on Instagram. “As of yesterday, she was the fastest player to reach 700 assists in WNBA history. Not just in WNBA history, but also NBA history as well. It took LaMelo Ball 104 games to reach 700 assists, and it took LeBron James 159 games to reach 700 assists. Caitlin Clark did it faster than the both of them.”
To make the case for her MVP race, DeMita also pointed to the sheer amount of offense Clark is creating for Indiana. According to Hoops Junkie, the Fever guard leads the WNBA in total points created (1,217), points created per game (40.6), and points per minute while also leading the league in assists (8.3) and ranking third in scoring (21.9).
But even beyond those numbers, Caitlin Clark has already stacked up enough standout achievements this season to make her MVP case difficult to ignore. Yet despite all of that, DeMita still believes the 24-year-old has more to prove.
“At this point in time in the season, I don’t think that she is unanimous MVP. I still think she has a lot of work to do, and I still think the Fever have to continue to prove themselves. It’s a very strong and clear case for Caitlin Clark as WNBA MVP this season,” the analyst added.
Now, reaching 700 career assists in just 83 games to become the fastest player in WNBA/NBA history to reach the mark happened just this Friday. So there is another side to her high-volume playmaking that cannot be overlooked: the turnovers.
Clark currently averages 4.6 turnovers per game, the highest mark in the WNBA. Those mistakes give her opponents easy opportunities in transition, either by helping them build a lead or allowing them to erase one Indiana has worked to create.
While the Indiana Fever currently sit fourth in the league standings at 22–12, their season got off to a far less convincing start. Indiana struggled to find consistency early on and repeatedly failed to build any real momentum. That combination could explain why DeMita believes Clark still has more to prove.
With 10 more games left to play in the regular season, Caitlin Clark has already done enough to put herself firmly in the conversation. But if she wants to turn that conversation into a unanimous one, the Fever may need to keep proving that their recent surge is more than just a hot streak.