Caitlin Clark Reveals Her 'Welcome to the WNBA Moment' During Historic Rookie Season

Caitlin Clark knew she had her welcome to the WNBA moment when she suffered an injury to her ear against the New York Liberty early in her rookie season.

Appearing on the New Heights podcast (starts at 27:30 mark), Clark told Jason and Travis Kelce the moment came when she popped an eardrum trying to run through a screen on defense:

"We're playing in New York versus the Liberty, who ended up winning the championship this year. And somebody set a screen on me, and, like, I hit my ear like just perfect on the girl where like my eardrum popped and like ruptured. And I knew it right away because I'd done it before. ... It hurt so bad. I don't know if you guys have ever done that."

The incident happened in Clark's 11th game of the season with the Indiana Fever. It also turned out to be one of the worst games for both her and the team. She scored a season-low three points on 1-of-10 shooting in 29 minutes, as the Liberty beat Indiana 104-68.

Clark didn't miss any time as a result of the ear issue. She started all 40 games during her rookie campaign.

The loss to the Liberty was still at the point in the season when Clark and the Fever were figuring things out. They were 2-9 after the 36-point defeat, but would go on to win 18 of their final 29 games to finish with a .500 record.

Clark would redeem herself later in the year in the final meeting between the Fever and Liberty. She recorded the first triple-double by a rookie in WNBA history with 19 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds in Indiana's 83-78 win over New York on July 6.

The Fever made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016. Clark earned WNBA Rookie of the Year honors and finished fourth in MVP voting after averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game.