Caitlin Clark makes Diana Taurasi ‘eat her words' as she ties WNBA record in just 42 games

Time of India

22-05-2025

Caitlin Clark tied the WNBA record for most 20-point, 10-assist games (10), matching Vandersloot in just 42 games. Image composite: File(AP)
Caitlin Clark has been rewriting WNBA history books since the moment she stepped onto the court, and her latest outing against the Atlanta Dream was no exception. While her Indiana Fever narrowly lost 91–90 in one of the most thrilling games of the 2025 season, Clark's individual performance was nothing short of extraordinary.
The 23-year-old point guard dropped 27 points, dished out 11 assists, and grabbed five rebounds, adding yet another historic milestone to her rookie resume. With that performance, Clark tied Chicago Sky veteran Courtney Vandersloot for the most 20-point, 10-assist games in WNBA history, with 10. The shocking part? Vandersloot needed 430 career games to reach that mark. Clark has done it in just 42.
The moment holds even more weight in the context of what unfolded less than a month ago.
The warning that made headlines
In April 2024, just after Caitlin Clark led Iowa past UConn in the NCAA Final Four, WNBA icon Diana Taurasi offered a now-infamous warning during an interview with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt.
'Look SVP, reality is coming,' Taurasi said. 'You know, there is levels to this thing. And that's just life, we've all been through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you're going to see it on this side. You look superhuman playing against some 18-year-olds, but you're going to come with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time."
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Taurasi continued:
'Not saying it's not gonna translate. Because when you are great at what you do, it's just gonna get better. But there is gonna be a transition period where you're gonna need to give yourself some grace as a rookie. It might take a little bit longer for some people.'
At the time, her comments drew strong reactions , many seeing them as a cautionary reality check, while others took them as skepticism or even shade.
Clark's rookie season silences doubts
Any concerns about Clark's transition to the pros were short-lived.
In her debut WNBA season with the Indiana Fever, Clark averaged 19.2 points, 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. She earned a spot in the WNBA All-Star Game, led the Fever to the playoffs after they finished last the previous year, and made the All-WNBA First Team. She also won Rookie of the Year and finished fourth in MVP voting.
Clark broke Diana Taurasi's single-season assist record with 337 assists and rewrote multiple pages of the record books that once belonged to her idol.
Over the course of her rookie campaign, she recorded six 25-point, 10-assist games, the most in WNBA history. The next closest? Sabrina Ionescu with five, followed by Taurasi with three.
She also became the all-time WNBA leader in most 25-5-5 games in a single season, surpassing both Taurasi and Ionescu during a late-season game against Phoenix. That night, she also broke Taurasi's record for most three-pointers in a season, hitting an astonishing 122 threes.
That same stat line puts Clark ahead of Taurasi in other elite categories. Despite being the league's all-time leading scorer with 10,646 points, Taurasi only tallied nine games with at least 20 points and five assists across her 565-game career.
'Surpassing a legend like Taurasi in multiple categories this early in your career isn't just rare, it's generational,' one analyst said after Clark's latest milestone.
Surpassing her childhood hero so early, and so definitively, only adds to the significance of Taurasi's recent on-air acknowledgment.
Taurasi acknowledges
Fast forward to April 2025. During the NCAA National Championship broadcast of the 'Bird & Taurasi Show' , hosted by Taurasi and fellow legend Sue Bird, Caitlin Clark made a guest appearance.
After Clark congratulated Taurasi on her recent retirement from professional basketball, Taurasi turned the conversation back to her own comments from a year ago.
'Thank you. Unfortunately, reality is coming to me now,' Taurasi told Clark.
In that single line, Taurasi publicly acknowledged that her prediction didn't quite hold, and did so with humor and humility.
From tension to respect
Taurasi, who retired as one of the greatest to ever play the game, with three WNBA titles, an MVP, and 11 All-Star appearances, had once seemed skeptical of Clark's immediate impact.
Now, that skepticism has turned into respect.
While their earlier interactions fueled controversy and headlines, their exchange on the show felt more like a symbolic passing of the torch, a GOAT recognizing the rise of a potential successor.
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