Mac Engel: Caitlin Clark is the WNBA's best player, but her arrival will not trigger an 'explosion'

ARLINGTON, Texas — Caitlin Clark’s first game as a pro went like her last games as a collegian. Disregard the age of the opponent, she’s the best player on the floor, in a packed arena.

On Friday night at the College Park Center in Arlington on the campus of UTA, the Dallas Wings’ WNBA team, thanks to some shrewd foresight, were the first team to host the Indiana Fever and the biggest thing to hit women’s sports in this country ever.

This was not your standard preseason game. This felt like the playoffs, even if the players dismissed it as a scrimmage.

Clark’s arrival to Arlington sold all 6,251 tickets for a game that normally is free. This was one of the Wings’ two preseason games, and tickets for these exhibitions are typically giveaways.

Even if it’s a warmup, you don’t give away tickets to watch Elvis in a recording session. On the secondary market, one ticket was going for $666 on the floor. The bad seats, which there are not many in this quaint arena, were going for about $75.

In her first game as a pro, Caitlin did for the Indiana Fever what she did for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Clark led the Fever with 21 points, including those deep 3-pointers that made her a national name. The only hitch to this script was she missed a short bunny in the final minute, and after the Wings took the lead in the waning seconds, Clark’s difficult game-tying 3-point shot from the deep corner was off.

The Wings won the game, 79-76, but this was a win for everyone.

“You couldn’t ask for a better first game, really, for women’s basketball,” Clark said after the game. “Tremendous game, down to the wire, both teams competing; that’s going to be the story of the entire year.”

Ideally.

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