The WNBA’s tip-off featured a marquee clash between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, with the Dallas Wings outlasting the Indiana Fever 107-104. The championship aura around the Las Vegas Aces felt heavy, while the Mercury got revenge. Predictions for Coach of the Year and a GM survey also highlighted the season’s start.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is guarded by Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers during their latest showdown.
Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
INDIANAPOLIS — Everyone gathered here Saturday for a multitude of reasons, but two stood out above the rest.
Just before noon, Addison Duncan stood with clear purpose against a railing at the bottom of Section 13, far from her home near Knoxville, Tenn. Her sign read “I MISSED PROM FOR THIS!” featuring a picture of Paige Bueckers and a request for an autograph. A green poster board from another girl announced she had traveled 764 miles for the occasion. “Caitlin Clark > Birthday Cake,” declared a sign held by her mother.
At a concession stand on the top level of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, two women queued up during the national anthem. One wore a “Clark 22” shirt, the other a “Bueckers 5.”
Season openers rarely provide definitive answers. But after the sights and sounds of an afternoon in the Circle City, after the WNBA chose this specific matchup for the most prominent broadcast slot in its anniversary weekend, we must conclude: When anyone asks what comes next, or wonders about the force this league can exert on the public consciousness over the next 30 years, the answers begin with the competing career arcs of Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark. They are the center of the galaxy, the avant-gardes.
