Mark Madden: WNBA needs to better showcase Caitlin Clark to break out of niche status

This space predicted three months ago that women’s basketball would blow it with phenom Caitlin Clark.

That’s already started.

Her first WNBA game wasn’t played on the big stage of, say, New York City. It was played Tuesday night at an arena in a Connecticut casino. Clark’s Indiana Fever lost to the Connecticut Sun, 92-71.

She was whistled for two fouls in the first five minutes, putting her on the bench for the rest of the first quarter. The first call was marginal. There should have been a quiet mandate from the league to keep Clark out of foul trouble. Those who turned on the TV to see Clark might tune out when she’s not playing for an extended period. Keep the drawing card on the court. Clark had zero points in the first quarter.

Clark wasn’t great. It was a Paul Skenes-like debut: OK but no better and probably a bit worse.

Clark finished with 20 points but shot just 5 for 15 from the field, including 4 for 11 from 3-point range. Steph Curry isn’t jealous. Clark played sloppy, turning the ball over 10 times, the most ever by a WNBA player making her debut.

Clark had trouble dealing with Connecticut’s physicality. She was mostly guarded by DiJonai Carrington, an elite defender. Carrington forced eight of Clark’s turnovers. The Sun crowded Clark on the perimeter. She looked flustered at times.

That illuminates what perhaps hadn’t been considered, at least not often enough or out loud: Clark was a sensation in college basketball with Iowa. But in the context of the WNBA, perhaps she’s not yet among the league’s best.

Clark probably will be. But not yet, and maybe it’s not a lock.

There were good signs: 8,910 attended, the first sellout for a Connecticut home opener since 2003. (TV ratings for Tuesday’s game weren’t available as I’m writing this. But it was expected to break the WNBA’s all-time viewership record.)

Thirty-six of Clark’s 40 games will be nationally televised. Good move by the league and network. An obvious move, too.

But the WNBA hasn’t done enough of what’s obvious when it comes to Clark.

Clark should have been finagled to a big market and placed on a good team. You don’t worry about fair when the golden ticket is dropped in your lap. Clark should be on the New York Liberty.

Instead, she’s in the nation’s 25th-biggest market, playing on a bad team where too much will be required of her.

Imagine if Indiana doesn’t even make the WNBA playoffs and/or finishes under .500. Major buzzkill and, unfairly or not, a stain on Clark’s rep. The Fever sure didn’t look like a playoff team Tuesday.

The league’s other players don’t want Clark to succeed, nor should they. Clark is going to be the target of every team’s defensive game plan, will get guarded by defensive specialists like Carrington and challenged at every turn.

The WNBA is not an easy league and has better players than Clark. It’s tough and physical. We’ll see how good Clark really is. This isn’t college basketball, where she was clearly among the very best and her mere presence intimidated.

I watched Clark’s pro debut, albeit not till Wednesday morning and using liberal doses of fast-forward. Got through it in 40 minutes.

Getting me to watch a women’s basketball game is a major development. Had to. Clark is big news.

But how long will that continue?

What if the WNBA can’t make the most of Clark? This is the league’s big chance to break out of niche status. Maybe its only chance.