Caitlin Clark is not the 11th-best guard in the WNBA.
She's better, so let's squash the notion and nip this in the bud.
Since WNBA All-Star voting results were revealed, the buzz hasn't been about the league celebrating its 30th Anniversary and what's planned for All-Star Weekend in Chicago. Rather another negative narrative surfaces, this time about Clark's peers voting her 11th among all guards.
Clark's passionate fanbase—which includes "media" members who leave their objective journalism hat at the door when it comes to the polarizing icon—hasn't let up.
"I think that's how fans are with every league," Indiana Fever star and teammate Sophie Cunningham said. "That's how it is with the NBA, MLB, FIFA - that is part of sports. That's the culture of sports, and that's what makes it so awesome."
"Sometimes it gets a little ugly ... I think that's the beauty of sport."
Clark was voted the second-best guard by the fans, behind Paige Bueckers, and third by the media, behind rookie Olivia Miles and Bueckers respectively. Granted, those may have been generous finishes by fans and media members, when you take into consideration certain stat lines for the 24-year-old, but somewhere between third and 11th is fair.
We should tread lightly how we look at player voting with the All-Star vote, as the players and media account for 25 percent of the vote each, while the fans get 50 percent. Let's stick to the players, though.
Caitlin Clark dropping dimes early!
📺 Peacock and NBCSN pic.twitter.com/vIWLmoeoiI
— WNBA on NBC and Peacock (@WNBAonNBC) May 17, 2026
Play On, Playa
From a pool of 180 roster players, only about 85 of them reportedly voted. An ESPN report revealed that some players didn't even receive their ballots, which immediately triggered Clark's fanbase to cry conspiracy.
Is there a sample of players who take the voting seriously? Probably. But there is also a pool of players who keep their votes home, understandably showing loyalty to their own teammates. For the fans who don't like that or understand it, it's no different than your 50% share, which is 100% about popularity and fandom.
You can't tell the players to use objectivity, and then not to do the same when you're hands-down voting for your favorite players. They're doing the same.
The fact is, the same arguments can be made about players voting rookie sensation Azzi Fudd as the 28th-best guard, or three-time champion Jackie Young as the 14th-ranked backcourt rep. Are they really that low in the players' eyes?
Players and media members should certainly have a legitimate argument about fans voting Chelsea Gray—arguably the best passer of this era—as the 16th-best guard.
Fans who love the go-to debate about what Clark has done for charter flights, sold-out arenas, and paychecks—leave it at the door. Those arguments are irrelevant to this topic and should never come into consideration when talking about talent vs. talent.
Instead, let's break down the tape and find out if everyone is watching the entire game film to appreciate what Clark has done this season.
Stastically Speaking
Heading into Sunday's Fever game in Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, NBC), Clark ranks fifth among all guards with 20.5 points per game.
Among guards who had played at least 15 games—Clark has played in 18—she ranked 31st with her 42.6% shooting clip. When it comes to three-point shooting, within the same parameters: the third-year pro ranked 34th in hitting 33.6% from beyond the arc.
Now, do those percentage rankings mean she belongs in a lower tier? Not necessarily if you also consider she ranked tied for third with 15.4 field-goal attempts and is all alone in third with 7.4 three-point attempts in the same capacity. She's putting up a lot of shots, so her percentage might dip.
But how many is she making? Again, under the same criteria, she ranks sixth with 6.6 made field goals and fourth with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game. Among guards who have played at least 15 games, Clark is No. 1 with 7.9 assists per game, while she has also committed the most turnovers (4.6).
For those who love to point out her turnovers, it's going to happen with the number of passes she's dishing each time she steps on the floor. That said, it's pertinent to point out that the Fever do allow the fifth-most points off turnovers (16.6).
Can't Please 'Em All
Nobody will be happy entirely: fans want to see their favorite player honored, coaches believe they're have the best backcourt and frontcourt players, and teammates think they know the game best.
Then there are the media members who think they know everything. We don't.
But we should know Clark is a top 10 guard in the league, and seeing her as the 11th-ranked guard is a bit insulting. It's downright foolish to consider she might even enter a conversation about being the 11th-best guard in the WNBA.
Bottom line is this: love her or hate her, you have to respect her, even if you don't like her ever-so flailing arms that accompany frequent arguments with referees. Clark is an exceptional basketball player with an extraordinary knack for seeing the court well and catching fire from long-range.
She is capable of taking a game over because she is difficult to defend when she's playing on extraordinary angles, both with and without the basketball. She is also very unpredictable with what she is going to do, and that makes her hard to blitz or double-team.
Her biggest flaw, which has become no secret, is her defensive game.
Can egos come into play when you're voting for teammates or peers? Of course. That's to be expected. But let's be real: Clark is somewhere between the top three and top 10 among guards in the WNBA.
Just not 11th.
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