Caitlin Clark is best known for two things: logo threes and perfectly delivered, sometimes daring passes. The latter turns out to be a result of years of playing soccer growing up, as Clark revealed during her appearance on the May 20 episode of Post Moves, Aliyah Boston’s podcast with Candace Parker.
“I grew up playing club soccer,” Clark said. “I think the best thing it did for me obviously foot speed, but also reading angles. That’s what soccer is, getting your body in the correct angle, leading people on passes, putting the ball in the perfect spot where they can run onto it. So, I think that has helped me as a passer, understanding angles and leading people, manipulating where I want them to go.”
With a player like Clark, it’s easy to assume that her passing ability is just a natural gift or a result of hard basketball-specific work. Hearing that she was able to translate what she learned from a different sport onto the basketball court only makes it more interesting.
Caitlin Clark was also a star on the soccer field
Clark also noted on the podcast that she probably could’ve played soccer in college. However, she ultimately decided to drop the sport because basketball commitments, such as stints with USA Basketball, took up too much time during the soccer season and she felt like a bad teammate.
Clark may have been a star on the soccer field, but choosing basketball worked out pretty well for her—and the WNBA. The Indiana Fever star deserves a good deal of credit for the meteoric rise of women’s basketball in the last few years. Previous generations of stars laid the groundwork, but Clark is a showman—her spectacular passes are a big part of that showmanship and excitement—and fans love to watch her play no matter where she is.
Caitlin Clark’s passing is already off to a good start this season
Clark missed most of the 2025 season due to injuries, but she is healthy (she missed the Fever’s game against the Fire, but it doesn’t seem to be anything too serious) and ready to put together her best season yet as a scorer, leader, and passer. Four games into the season, Clark leads the WNBA in assists per game with nine and ranks second in total assists with 36. Alyssa Thomas, who led the league in assists last season, is first with 42 assists over five games.
After the first four games of her third season as a pro, Clark has already totalled 488 assists. If she played all remaining regular-season games and kept up her average of nine assists per game, Clark would finish the season with 387 total assists—30 more than Alyssa Thomas’s record of 357 assists from last season.
Soon enough, Clark’s name will also appear on the WNBA’s all-time assist list. She is still far away from catching up with anyone near the top, but she won’t take more than a few extra seasons to overtake some big names.
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