Photograph by Adam Hagy/NBAE
On Thursday, at center court in State Farm Arena, the Atlanta Dream replaced its own logo with a message: “Pay Some Respect to Women’s Sports.” It was meant to be a fitting caption for the night story: Caitlin Clark, with the Indiana Fever, was in town, bringing her logo threes and confidence, and the Dream moved the game from their usual venue, the Gateway Center Arena (with a capacity of 3,500) to State Farm to house a sell-out crowd. It was also the Dream’s home opener and an Atlanta debut for veteran WNBA star Brittney Griner.
This is the moment for the WNBA. According to the league, in 2024, TV ratings ballooned 170 percent, nearly catching regular season NBA figures. Merchandise is up 601 percent, with the league’s newest stars, such as Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink, leading jersey sales. And attendance grew 48 percent from 2023 and is set to continue. It also helps when opposing teams move games into bigger arenas to house increased demand when Clark is on the road. The Dream did it once in 2024, and again on Thursday.
The Dream plans to ride this wave of momentum. In the offseason, the organization took a huge leap in free agency by signing 10-time All-Star Griner and three-time All-Star Brionna Jones. They brought in a new coach, Karl Smesko, to guide the new stacked roster. Season tickets have been long sold out, and nine of the 22 regular season games have too. The highest-ever revenue grossing game for the Dream, if it wasn’t yesterday, was its May 10 preseason game against the Fever.
The anticipation of the game inside the arena was overwhelming. Unlike an NBA game, where attending the first tip or the first five minutes are optional, seats were filled for player introductions. The second possession of the game gave fans what they wanted. Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell fed Clark off a screen, and Clark drove with her left hand and scored with her right through contact over Griner. It was a tough finish, and the arena erupted. Of the over 17,000 fans in attendance, nearly half were Fever and/or Clark fans.
After that bucket though, the Dream guarded Clark tight, and she struggled to create shots. She looked like her rookie self, still trying to find a rhythm in the WNBA to score consistently. She tried contested, off-balanced threes and made none. The Dream led 18–13 after the first quarter, but in the second, they also faltered with Griner limited to just three points and three fouls, after a pair of illegal screens. The Fever went into the half up 37–34.
Clark couldn’t get going in the third quarter either, missing two uncontested threes, and Griner picked up her fifth foul. But other stars rose to the occasion. The Dream’s Rhyne Howard, a two-time All-Star, shut down Clark on the defensive end, and on offense, showed off a one-on-one skill set that was smooth and versatile, with plenty of stepbacks to show for it. She could score on all three levels and finished with 24 points. Rookie Te-Hina Paopao facilitated the Dream offense at point guard and knocked down two threes to put the Dream on an 8–0 run to tie the game at 46 midway through the third quarter.
The Fever responded through Kelsey Mitchell and Natasha Howard. Mitchell is a quick and shifty guard who looks to score when the ball is in her hands. A perfect counterpart is Howard, a power forward, who doesn’t dominate the ball and doesn’t need to. When the Dream defense collapsed on the dribble drives of Mitchell or Clark, Howard would cut open. She finished with a game high 26 points. Both Mitchell and Howard are former All-Stars, but their names are often lost in the buzz around Clark.
The fourth quarter swung back and forth like a pendulum, and so did the crowd. Clark abandoned the three after a cold night. After a foul on a drive, Clark took two free throws to extend the Fever’s one-point lead with four minutes to play. Dream fans booed and yelled loudly. She made the first: applause. She missed the second: still applause.
Griner fouled out with three minutes left, with just five points. The Dream still went up 75–71 with 2:30 to play after a Rhyne Howard step-back three that lit up the crowd, but again, a quick Natasha Howard layup and a Mitchell three-pointer gave the Fever a 76–75 advantage that they hold on to for an 81–76 win.
The game was unusual: According to the Associated Press, it was Clark’s first game without a three since her sophomore season at Iowa. She also didn’t give a postgame press conference, which is rare.
“Pay Some Respect to Women’s Sports” was a fitting caption for the night, but not in the way most fans anticipated. There was no epic battle between Clark and Griner. On the court, at least, it was the WNBA stars a casual fan hasn’t heard about who put on a show for the fans. If the league’s growth is sustainable, those are the stars that will need to rise along with the faces of the league.
