Caitlin Clark (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
There’s hardly any doubt that Caitlin Clark has made the Indiana Fever – and, by extension, the WNBA – more popular. But there are numbers to back that up.
The WNBA is enjoying some extra attention this season, while the Fever has also been drawing more eyes despite being one of the least successful sides so far.
It hardly takes a genius to guess that the exposure the team has been enjoying is primarily due to Clark, who was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick after starring at the University of Iowa and taking its women’s basketball program to two successive National Title games.
Only two months removed from their drafting of Clark, the Fever has experienced a telling uptick in social media following. The team had 129,000 followers before the draft in April but has seen that number swell to 506,000 to lead the league in that regard.
You can see the number of IG followers for each team as of this Monday below:
Indiana Fever recently hit half a million IG followers.
Pre-draft they had 129k They’re now the most followed WNBA team on Instagram:
Fever: 506k
Sky: 480k
Aces: 478k
Sparks: 407k
Liberty: 250k
Dream: 241k
Storm: 192k
Mercury: 188k
Lynx: 144k
Wings: 133k
Mystics: 132k
Sun: 90k
The Caitlin Clark Effect Is Real
The Chicago Sky happens to be the second-most followed team, with Caitlin Clark’s rival Angel Reese representing them.
Curiously enough, the Connecticut Sun is the best team in the league this season and boasts a 12-1 record, but they have the fewest followers, with 90,000.
While Caitlin Clark is not solely responsible for the surge in WNBA interest, it’s hard to argue with the fact that things wouldn’t be the way they are had she decided to stay in college another year.
The Fever rookie snagged her fifth win of the season against Reese and the Sky on Sunday, getting the better of her rival in two straight games since they went pro.
