The WNBA cashed in on the first professional meeting between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark over the weekend.
School was anything but out for summer in the WNBA’s latest ratings landmark, which saw two of the most accomplished names in recent college basketball memory do professional battle for the first time.
ESPN announced Sunday’s broadcast of the Dallas Wings’ weekend showdown with the Indiana Fever averaged 2.1 million viewers, good for the fourth most-watched broadcast on ABC airwaves that began carrying the W in 2003. The game featured the first WNBA showdown between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, the top picks of the last two NBA Drafts, with the latter’s Fever earning a 102-83 victory that was never close after the opening half.
Nonetheless, yet another Fever game involving Clark worked viewership wonders for the league, as the W’s sophomore sensation put up a 14-point, 13-assist double-double in abbreviated effort brought about by her recovery from lower body injuries. With viewership peaking at 2.5 million, Sunday’s game was able to keep pace with the ABC record-holder, which saw as many as 3.1 million watch the Fever take down the Chicago Sky during opening weekend in May.
Kelsey Mitchell (20), Natasha Howard (18), and Aliyah Boston (17) united for 55 points as the Fever (11-10) rolled to a 19-point triumph to improve to 4-2 in July, which includes a Clark-less victory over the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup Final.
For her part, Bueckers had 21 points on 9-of-15 from the field as Dallas (6-16) continues to improve after losing all but one of its first dozen in her freshman tour. The visit to Indianapolis was one of the more anticipated dates on Bueckers’ rookie calendar, as the two waged a couple of high-profile battles on the collegiate level. Bueckers’ UConn Huskies disposed of Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2021 regional semifinals before the latter earned revenge with a narrow victory in the Final Four three years later.
ABC cameras will be back in Indianapolis this weekend, as the Fever’s home of Gainbridge Fieldhouse is set to host the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/Disney+/ESPN+).
Clark is captaining a team that will face another led by Napheesa Collier of the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, their squads assembled through a fantasy draft format. Clark’s group managed to acquire Fever teammates Boston and Mitchell, while Bueckers is on Collier’s side alongside fellow UConn alumnae Collier and Breanna Stewart (New York).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
