Can Caitlin Clark Please Come to All-Star Weekend???

It’s NBA All-Star Weekend and I barely care because none of them are Caitlin Clark, the Iowa State senior who just broke the NCAA scoring record on Thursday night to become the new women’s basketball all-time scorer. Clark hit a deep three to surpass Kelsey Plum’s existing record of 3,527 points, scoring eight points within just three minutes of the first quarter. By the end of the Hawkeye’s game against the Michigan Wolverines, Clark had passed the previous record handily, dropping 49 points to set a new record of 3,569 points. And who knows how much higher that record will go given Clark’s game-changing efficiency: She finished the night on eight-for-10 shooting, with 23 points in the first quarter alone, all on top of 13 assists. If you aren’t a numbers person, I’ll spare you, but TL;DR: That’s really, really good!

“I don’t know if you could script it any better,” Clark told reporters of her achievement. “Just to do it in this fashion, I’m very grateful and thankful to be surrounded by so many people who have been my foundation in everything I’ve done since I was a young little girl. You all knew I was going to shoot the logo three for the record.” Of course, “logo three” is a term she’s largely introduced to the vernacular by being one of the few people to hit three-point shots from so far away that she’s practically standing on the logo at half-court.

HISTORY ‼️ Caitlin Clark is the new NCAA Women’s Basketball’s All-Time Leading Scorer. 🐐#CaitlinCoverage x @statefarm

💻: PeacockI pic.twitter.com/c2Kdej2gIR

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 16, 2024

About a year ago, Clark became the first player in NCAA Tournament history—men’s or women’s—to score a 40-point triple-double. And just last month, Clark hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining, which ??? How does that even happen?? She’s a bonafide superstar and, I get that she probably has much more important things to do, but if anyone should be at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Indiana this weekend, it’s her.

On top of being very good at basketball, Clark, like LSU’s Angel Reese, has changed the game by helping to bring in new people to the wonderful world of women’s basketball. (Speaking of Reese, she responded to Clark’s new record by tweeting, “Congratulations @CaitlinClark22 KEEP BREAKING RECORDS & MAKING HER-STORY!” with a series of heart and fire emojis.) Last year, Clark and Reese helped lead Women’s March Madness to overtake the NBA on ESPN’s regular season ratings, dispelling the sexist myth that no one watches women’s basketball, which… just isn’t true??? I am reminded of that one misogynistic YouTuber who filmed himself sleeping courtside at WNBA games last summer only to possibly get banned from all NBA games moving forward. At a time when the rest of us are enjoying dynamic players like Clark, or the New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, who’s literally competing against Steph Curry for All-Star Weekend’s three-point contest, I truly feel sorry for sexist twerps like him.

Caitlin Clark’s game is just prime basketball, with none of the cattiness and drama and infantile feuds that drive the NBA—which, don’t get me wrong, I love. But if you’re following the NBA for the ~basketball~, you’re missing out if you’re not watching her too.