Hi everyone. Welcome to the brand new WNBA season. This is the 28th year of the league and the 16th for me personally. This will be the 8th year that I will be covering the WNBA season on the blog and the fourth year that I will freelance write for Her Hoop Stats. For international visitors, Andrew has continued to write about international basketball for the second straight year. You can check his articles here.
This season is a historic one as the league introduced charter flights for the regular season, the ratings are up, more players are signing big endorsement deals and it is because of the rookies, that more people are tuning to watch the WNBA. It’s not just Caitlin Clark. It’s other rookies too, like Angel Reese or Cameron Brink.
Now that we have officially completed the first week of the 2024 WNBA regular season, it is time to recap the first week of WNBA Rookies Watch. I will write a weekly recap of WNBA Rookies Watch. This is my second season of writing WNBA Rookies Watch. You can check out the first season of WNBA Rookies Watch here.
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WNBA Rookies Watch – The First Week for this Historic Draft Class
Usually when a rookie enters the WNBA, they recieve limited minutes to play and need time to adjust. It wasn’t any different for this rookie class. Some rookies were able to play well despite limited minutes while other rookies struggled. It isn’t easy, but eventually they will be able to handle it and adjust.
*Note – These are games played from May 14th to May 21st*
- Caitlin Clark – Guard, Indiana Fever
Despite Caitlin Clark‘s struggles with turnovers and games in which she shot poorly from the field, the #1 draft pick is currently averaging 17.0 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game and 5.5 assists per game. She struggled in her first two games versus Connecticut and New York but rebounded when they played New York again on the road as she finished the game with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists and shot 40% from the field. When they played Connecticut at home again, she played her best game as she scored 17 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, had 2 blocks and shot 42.9% from the field in a close loss. Her team is currently 0-4 but that’s not her fault. It takes time for a young team to gel and play well with each other and when the schedule is against the top 2 teams in the league, that is not easy to deal with.
2. Angel Reese – Forward, Chicago Sky
Angel Reese has came ready and prepared to play in the WNBA. She is currently averaging 11.5 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game and 1.0 steals per game. Despite only playing in 2 games and only against the Dallas Wings both on the road and at home in Chicago, she almost had 2 double-doubles. In her WNBA debut on the road versus the Wings, she finished the game with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 1 steal. In her home debut against the same team (Wings) she finished the game with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. However, she did struggle shooting from the field as she shot 34.8% from the field. The #7th draft pick showed flashes of just how good a forward she can be in the WNBA.
3. Rickea Jackson – Forward, LA Sparks
Rickea Jackson has played incredibly well in her first week in the WNBA. She is currently averaging 9.7 points per game, 2.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 50% from the field. The #4th draft pick struggled in her first game as she shot 30% from the field and played only 18 minutes. She finished the game with 7 points and 3 rebounds in a home loss versus the Atlanta Dream. She then rebounded against the Las Vegas Aces in which she finished the game with 13 points and shot 83.3% from the field in a close road loss. In her most recent game, she finished the game with 9 points, 3 rebounds and shot 50% from the floor in a close home win versus the Washington Mystics. Like Reese, she’s showing flashes of just how good a forward she can be in the league.
4. Aaliyah Edwards – Forward, Washington Mystics
Aaliyah Edwards has played well in her first week in the WNBA. She is currently averaging 7.8 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, 1.0 steals per game, 1.5 blocks per game and is shooting 52% from the field. In her WNBA debut versus the New York Liberty, she played only 14 minutes and finished the game with 6 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block in a close home loss. In her next game, a home game versus the Connecticut Sun, she only played 19 minutes and finished the game with 6 points, 1 assist and 1 block in a close road loss. She was able to play for 25 minutes in her third game and finished the game with 9 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in a home loss versus the Seattle Storm. In her most recent game, a close road loss versus the LA Sparks, she played 24 minutes and finished the game with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. That was the best game of the season so far for her. The #6 draft pick is showing that she can be a good player in the WNBA.
5. Cameron Brink – Forward, LA Sparks
Cameron Brink came into this league with alot of hype surrounding her just like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark and so far she’s showed that she can potentially be a good defensive player. She’s currently averaging 6.0 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. In her WNBA debut, she finished the game with 11 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks in a home loss versus the Atlanta Dream. That was her best game of the season, as she struggled against the Las Vegas Aces in a close road loss and finished the game with 3 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks and shot 14.3% from the field. However, she did rebound in her most recent game. This was against the Washington Mystics and she finished the game with 4 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks. She’s currently shooting 46.7% from the field and 40% from three. The #2 draft pick is showing what a potentially good defensive player she can be with those high block numbers.
Honourable mention
Kate Martin – Guard, Las Vegas Aces
Making a WNBA roster is difficult with very few teams and few roster spots, so when Kate Martin made the team as a second round pick makes it even nicer. She has played 20 minutes per game and is currently averaging 1.5 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game and 1.5 rebounds per game. She’s currently struggling from the field as she is shooting 12.5% from the field and 16.7% from three, but getting minutes to play on the defending champion, the Las Vegas Aces is a big accomplishment.
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