When Caitlin Clark received word that she wouldn’t be on the United States women’s national team for the Paris Olympics, she texted her Indiana Fever coach, Christie Sides.
“They woke a monster,” Clark wrote, according to Sides.
In doing so, they also gave that monster some seemingly well-needed rest — a one-month break of recharging and refocusing that has a chance to change the dynamics of the rest of the WNBA season.
Clark is a different player — and a much better player — now than she was back in May as she jumped to the WNBA almost directly from a long season at Iowa.