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Caitlin Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes and is regarded as one of the greatest collegiate players of all time. Clark is the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer and was a two-time national player of the year with the Hawkeyes. Since her college career, she has helped popularize women's basketball, a trend known as the "Caitlin Clark effect".
Clark attended Dowling Catholic High School in her hometown of West Des Moines, Iowa, where she was named a McDonald's All-American and rated the fourth-best player in her class by ESPN. In her freshman season with Iowa, she led the NCAA Division I in scoring and earned All-American honors. As a sophomore, Clark was a unanimous first-team All-American and became the first women's player to lead Division I in points and assists in a single season. In her junior season, she was the national player of the year. She led Iowa to its first national championship game. Clark again led Division I in assists and set Big Ten single-season marks in points and assists. As a senior, she repeated as national player of the year and helped Iowa return to the national title game. Clark became the Division I women's career and single-season leader in points and three-pointers and broke the all-time conference record in assists, while leading the nation in both points and assists.
Clark was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA draft. In her first season, she won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and made the All-WNBA First Team and WNBA All-Star Game. She set league single-season and single-game records in assists, broke the rookie scoring record, and became the first rookie to achieve a triple-double. At the youth international level, Clark has won three gold medals with the United States, including two at the FIBA Under-19 Women's World Cup, where she was named Most Valuable Player in 2021.