Caitlin Clark, Fever vs. Paige Bueckers, Wings Makes WNBA TV History, How Many Fans Watched Opener?

Millions of people watched Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever take on Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings in their season opener Saturday.

The WNBA announced Tuesday an average of 2.5 million people watched the high-profile showdown. That made it the second-most-watched WNBA regular-season game across ESPN Networks.

So many people tuning in was anything but surprising.

After all, there was no shortage of star power with Clark, Bueckers, Kelsey Mitchell, Arike Ogunbowale, Aliyah Boston and Azzi Fudd all taking the floor. Clark and Bueckers in particular are two of the faces of the league, and it marked the return to the floor for the Fever leader after she was limited to just 13 games last season by injury.

Yet her return was not enough for Indiana.

Dallas earned the 107-104 victory behind impressive offensive showings from Bueckers (20 points and four assists), Ogunbowale (22 points and five assists) and Odyssey Sims (20 points). Jessica Shepard also just missed a triple-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Wings-Fever Highlights

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Mitchell did what she could for the Fever with 30 points, but she missed a three-pointer that would have forced overtime in the final second. Boston finished with 23 points, while Clark added 20 points and seven assists.

Next up for Indiana is a road game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, while the Wings host the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday.

They will face each other again on Aug. 14.