WNBA Rookies Watch – Rookies starting to leave their mark in the league

The seventh week of the WNBA season saw the annual Commissioner Cup game take place. The Minnesota Lynx defeated the New York Liberty and Lynx forward Napheesa Collier won the MVP award. The Lynx won the Cup and earned a share of $500,000. Collier also earned $5000 for winning the MVP award. The WNBA also announced who will play in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game and two rookies – Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are named to the WNBA All-Star Team. The game taakes place on July 20th and the WNBA All-Stars will face off against the Olympic squad members of Team USA. The game will be televised on ABC.

This past week saw the talented WNBA rookies in Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark start to leave their mark on the league. Caitlin Clark set the Fever franchise record for assists by a rookie in a season and Reese set the rookie record for most consecutive double-doubles with 10.

It is now time to recap the seventh week of WNBA Rookies Watch. You can read the previous week here.

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WNBA Rookies Watch – Rookies leaving their mark on the league

As we continue these WNBA Rookies Watch posts, please be aware only a small handful of WNBA rookies are getting extended minutes to play while other rookies are not. This is not to dismiss their talent. There is just strong competition and it is tough to compete against WNBA veterans who have experience and have also played overseas.

*Note – These are games played from June 24th, 2024 to July 2nd, 2024*

1. Angel Reese – Forward, Chicago Sky

Angel Reese continues to thrive as her rookie season continues. She was named the WNBA rookie of the month for the month of June. She averaged 14.5 points and 13.2 rebounds in the month of June. She set the record for most consecutive rookie double-doubles with 10 and broke the record held by Candace Parker who had 9 in 2015 with the LA Sparks. Last week, the Sky lost to the Las Vegas Aces, the Minnesota Lynx and won against the Atlanta Dream. Reese was spectacular in all 3 games and averaged a double-double in all 3 of them.

2. Caitlin Clark – Guard, Indiana Fever

Caitlin Clark had some success last week as her rookie season continues. Despite the fact that she continues to struggle with turnovers and had six each in all 3 of the games she played in last week, she did manage to come close to setting a triple-double in the Fever’s win over the Phoenix Mercury. She finished the game with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 9 rebounds. Caitlin Clark does continue to attract a record number of fans who come to view her games. Yesterday, she and the Fever played in front of the fifth-largest WNBA attendance in WNBA history against the Las Vegas Aces. That’s pretty impressive for a rookie. She averaged 3 double-doubles in all 3 games she played in.

3. Rickea Jackson – Forward, LA Sparks

Rickea Jackson continues to remain a steady presence for the LA Sparks. The Sparks only played in 2 games last week and Jackson averaged 13 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game and 3 assists per game. The Sparks are on a losing streak and lost both games to the Mercury and Mystics, but by all means, that’s not Jackson’s fault. It’s difficult for the rookie to come in and provide scoring and rebounding help but she’s doing her best and doing the best she can.

4. Julie Vanloo – Guard, Washington Mystics

Julie Vanloo continues to improve as her rookie season continues as she was pretty impressive last week and earned a spot on this week’s edition of WNBA Rookies Watch. As a starter, the guard averaged 11.6 points per game and 5 assists per game in all 3 games she played in last week. Despite the losses to the Sun and the Aces, the Mystics did end the week with a close win over the struggling Sparks and Vanloo played a big role in that win. She had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in that win and shot 50% FG from the field and 55.6% from three.

5. Kamilla Cardoso – Center, Chicago Sky

Kamilla Cardoso struggled this last week after having a remarkable week last week and being third overall in last week’s edition of WNBA Rookies Watch. She shot the ball poorly last week as she averaged 25.9% FG in all 3 games she played in last week. She only averaged 5 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game and 1 block per game. She moved down to the last spot in this week’s edition of WNBA Rookies Watch and despite the poor shooting and the bad numbers, she’s still providing rebounding help for the Chicago Sky alongside her fellow rookie in Angel Reese.

That ends this week’s edition of WNBA Rookies Watch. Make sure you subscribe above to recieve the weekly WNBA Rookies Watch posts every week. A new post goes up every Wednesday.