Caitlin Clark put together a phenomenal rookie season in 2024 that saw her break several records. She finished the season with the most total points scored, the most 3-pointers made per game, and the most total assists ever by a rookie in WNBA history.
The latter is already at risk of being broken just two seasons later. Olivia Miles is off to a great start as a playmaker, averaging 7.5 assists per game for the Minnesota Lynx.
Caitlin Clark immediately established herself as a great playmaker
Clark averaged 8.4 assists per game as a rookie. She played all 40 games of her first WNBA season and totalled 337 assists. That is 113 more assists than Ticha Penichero, who had previously held the record for most total assists by a rookie. To be fair, Penicheiro also played ten fewer games in 1998.
No one else who has played 40 games or close to it has been able to rival Clark’s record so far. Paige Bueckers recorded 194 assists in 36 games as a rookie, and Julie Vanloo got 173 in 40 games in 2024.
Olivia Miles could tie or break Clark’s record this season
We’re only two games into the regular season, but Olivia Miles is already proving that she can be the generational passer people expected her to be coming out of college. She dished out eight assists in her WNBA debut and seven in the Lynx’s 88-84 win against the Phoenix Mercury.
That comes out to an average of 7.5 assists per game. If she keeps that production up steadily over all 44 games, she can finish the season with 330 total assists. That’s seven assists shy of Clark’s record.
But if Miles stays healthy for the whole season, it’s possible that she can actually tie or crack Clark’s number. Just a couple of 9- or 10-assist games could make all the difference, and Miles is capable of doing that, especially considering that she will only continue to get more comfortable in the Lynx’s system and will understand her teammates’ tendencies better with every game. The biggest challenge here for Miles is to stay healthy after just coming off a long college season.
But even if Miles doesn’t break Clark’s assist record, her season will go down as one of the best playmaking performances by a rookie in league history.
Clark and Miles will compete with each other for a long time
Chelsea Gray won the vote for best point guard in the league in this year’s GM survey—and for good reason. She has been the starting point guard on four championship teams and a Finals MVP. But she is 33 years old, and a new generation of point guards is already starting to take over.
Clark and Miles are at the forefront of that generational change and will compete with each other for that honor for many, many years.
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