Caitlin Clark is somehow underrated going into the 2026 WNBA season
· Yahoo Sports
As hard as it is to believe, Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark will somehow enter the 2026 WNBA season as somewhat of an underdog.
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Now, that's not "underdog" in the traditional sense. Clark is still widely regarded as one of the best players in the WNBA and the roaring engine that still drives so much of the post-2024 attention the league has received.
However, her injury-plagued 2025 has dinged her public reputation a bit on the court, at least with a few recent rankings and a league-wide general manager survey. ESPN dubbed Clark as only the 10th-best player in the WNBA in a 2026 player power ranking, and The Athletic only put Clark on their All-WNBA preseason second team.
The league's GMs gave her some votes as a possible MVP candidate in their preseason poll, but Dallas Wings superstar guard Paige Bueckers was named the clear favorite as the player you'd most like to sign if you just started a new WNBA franchise. Clark was tied in that superlative with Las Vegas Aces superstar A'ja Wilson. She was named the league's second-best point guard and passer behind Las Vegas Aces superstar Chelsea Gray.
Clark didn't receive any votes in that poll as the player you'd most want to take the game-winning shot for your team, which is objectively kind of silly when you consider what a generational shot-maker Clark is on the court.
Bueckers ranked higher on that ESPN poll than Clark did at eighth, and she was named to The Athletic's Alll-WNBA preseason first team. The recency bias is real for Bueckers' excellent rookie campaign, but it's also easy to forget what an electric debut Clark had in her first season and what she's still more than capable of when she's healthy.
Again, a year ago, there was no world where people were sleeping on Clark and the Indiana Fever. As the 2025 season got started, Gainbridge Fieldhouse was at the epicenter of the WNBA. However, Clark's various injuries took the spotlight away from the Fever just long enough to make you forget the team still made the 2025 WNBA semifinals with a rag-tag team of stalwart veterans and mid-season free agents. While there is "championship or bust" talk to be had with the Fever, it also seems like the WNBA community might be underestimating what this Fever team can do. How is it possible a Clark-led Indiana could be underrated by preseason analysis?
With Clark still getting so much attention from opposing defenses in her brief 2026 WNBA preseason reps, it's still clear that she's a feared presence on the court. While she might not be getting the same level of hype as she entered 2025 with, sleep on her and this Fever team at your own peril. They're one of the three or four teams that have the best chance at winning a WNBA title, and she's more than primed to make some of these preseason polls seem a bit off-kilter by season's end.
We won't be shocked if she and Indiana enter 2027 with more of that pre-2025 fervor.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: How is Caitlin Clark somehow underrated going into 2026 WNBA season?