Caitlin Clark bold predictions with Stephanie White as Fever's new head coach

11/12/2024 04:17 PM

With 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year Stephanie White now with the Indiana Fever, the table is set for Caitlin Clark to have a massive second year. The reigning Rookie of the Year took the league by storm in 2024, setting high expectations for the remainder of her career.

On top of her Rookie of the Year award, Clark was honored with a first-team All-WNBA nomination. She became the first rookie to receive the recognition since Candace Parker in 2008. Clark is also just the second member of the Fever to be selected to an All-WNBA team, joining team legend Tamika Catchings.

That being said, there is a lot for both Clark and White to work with moving forward. White will begin her second stint with the team in 2025 after coaching the Fever to two playoff appearances in 2015 and 2016. In her first year as Indiana’s head coach, White took the team to the WNBA Finals in a season that still stands as the most successful in franchise history.

Caitlin Clark will be the 2025 WNBA MVP

This prediction is not as bold for a player like Clark, who was already in the conversation as a rookie. It is already fairly apparent that she is the best point guard in the league, as evidenced by her first-team All-WNBA nomination. In 2024, Clark finished fourth in the final MVP voting behind Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and unanimous winner A’ja Wilson.

In her brief stint with the Sun, White coached Alyssa Thomas to two top-five finishes in the end-of-season MVP voting results. Perhaps more importantly, essentially every key player for Connecticut saw a substantial statistical improvement under her guidance. White is clearly one of the league’s best at developing young talent and getting the best out of her players.

For Clark, the key to her taking home the award will the the success of the Fever. Ending the year with another 20-20 record isn’t enough. Indiana does not have to be the No. 1 overall team — though that wouldn’t hurt — but finishing in the top half of the league is a must.

The talent is all there for Clark. An MVP award is almost an inevitability for her; it is just a matter of when it happens. White is the coach to round out her edges.

Caitlin Clark will become an average defender

Offensively, there is not a lot to dislike about Clark’s game. Her shooting numbers were low at the beginning of her professional career but after the Olympic break, she single-handedly powered Indiana into becoming the best offense in the league. Her main issues have always been on defense.

As a rookie, Clark posted a 106.6 defensive rating. That number was the worst mark of any point guard who started more than 20 games in 2024. There is a lot to work on with Clark’s defense at this point in her young career and asking her to become an elite defender in year two is unreasonable.

The good news is that White has always been a defensive-minded coach. All of her teams have been above-average defensively and thrive in transition. DiJonai Carrington, whose fourth-year leap led to an All-Defense nomination and winning the 2024 Most Improved Player award, was the embodiment of a Stephanie White guard.

Clark will never be Carrington on the defensive end, but she has the physical ability to be better than she has been. Her focus for the 2024 offseason needs to be on the weight room as an undersized guard. If she can do that, she is already an above-average rebounder who has shown flashes of quick hands. She doesn’t have to be Gary Payton; she just needs to improve enough to avoid being targeted each trip down the court.

Caitlin Clark will nearly average a triple-double

No player in WNBA history has ever averaged a triple-double. There have only been 46 of them all-time and Thomas has the most with 15. In her first year with White, she came the closest to averaging a triple-double with 15.5 points, 9.9 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. She also set the record for the most triple-doubles in a season that year with five.

This is not to say that Clark will pull off a Russell Westbrook-like year, but it is not hard to imagine that she can get close. As a rookie, Clark put up 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. That is about as close as a rookie can get in this league.

To get closer, Clark will obviously need to improve on her rebounding. She has the obvious potential to do so, with a career 7.1 rebounds per game in college. If Clark treats the offseason properly and sets up camp in the weight room, the rebounds will come easier to her in 2025.

At the end of the day, Clark will not average a triple-double. No player has ever even averaged double-digit assists per game in a season. There has also never been a player like Clark before. She will get much closer than most may want to believe. Pair this prediction with our belief that Clark will break Courtney Vandersloot’s record for most assists per game in a WNBA season.

Caitlin Clark and Stepanie White will lead the Fever to the 2025 WNBA Finals

If everything goes right for White and Clark, the Fever will win their first WNBA Finals in franchise history. It is difficult to see that happening in their first year together but this could very well be a legendary pairing for years to come.

As a rookie, Clark already elevated the Fever to a level they had not previously seen in nearly a decade. The last time they had even made the playoffs was with White as their head coach. With the two together, they are destined to build off each other’s success.

Much like Clark’s personal growth, the Fever’s entire struggles in 2024 came on the defensive end of the court. They were not far off from being the worst defensive team of all time. Enter White, who might be the best defensive coach in all of women’s basketball.

It is not unreasonable to say that this is the most explosive offensive roster White has ever worked with. They were, after all, the best offense in the league during the second half of 2024. White does not need to make them an elite defensive team; they just need to be league-average.

With just 12 teams in the league, making a deep playoff run is sometimes just about getting hot at the right time. Throughout both of their careers, both Clark and White have done that.

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