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Caitlin Clark knew she had her WNBA moment when she suffered an ear injury against the New York Liberty early in her rookie season.
Appearing on New Heights podcast (starts at 27:30), Clark told Jason and Travis Kelce that there was a moment when she ruptured her eardrum trying to go through a screen on defense:
“We're playing in New York against the Liberty, who won the championship this year. And somebody put a screen on me, and, like, I hit my ear like perfect on a girl where it's like my eardrum burst and I'm like knew because I've had it before.
The incident occurred in Clark's 11th game of the season with the Indiana Fever. It 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 Liberty beat Indiana 104-68.
Clark hasn't missed any time with an ear problem. She started all 40 games during her rookie campaign.
The Liberty loss was still at the point in the season when Clark and the Fever figured things out. They went 2-9 after losing by 36 points, but won 18 of their last 29 games to finish with a .500 record.
Clark would redeem himself later in the year in the final meeting between the Fever and the Liberty. She recorded the first rookie triple-double 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 for the first time since 2016 last season. Clark won 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.
