To be put on the injury list after having put together six straight games with at least 20 points and five assists, and then to erupt for 45 points just four games after returning. That is Caitlin Clark for you. Yet, those three games before the historic one were enough for the conversation to go out of sync, as discussions around Clark’s injury and early-season struggles returned and overshadowed what she was coming back from and how explosively.
That is what made Tony East say, “Definitely an underrated year,” on the WNBA Today podcast, hosted by Noa Dalzell.
At the beginning of the season, Clark was trying to trust her body again after a 2025 season in which injuries limited her to 13 games. In the 2026 opener, she admitted that she was still dealing with the mental side of returning, saying, “you just become hyper cautious to certain things”. It was in the 45-point Seattle game that fans could actually see the change in her body language. In fact, Clark said afterward that it was the first time all season she felt she had her “full bounce” back.
So, for East, who covers the WNBA and the Fever as a beat reporter, Caitlin Clark places no lower than second on his list of best current WNBA players. He also singled her out at the top of the list in terms of offensive production, saying, “I think she’s been the best offensive player in the league since she had that 45-10 game against Seattle.”
“That was a thing that happened early in the year. And then her shot wasn’t as efficient, and her assists were high, but not at this level. And then as soon as she got what she perceived to be fully healthy after the back stuff, she’s just been off and running and looked spectacular. And it’s been, at worst, the second-best player in the league, depending on your interpretation of all this. So, yeah, she’s playing awesome.”
The performance happened back on July 17, when Clark scored 45 points on 11-for-18 from the field, made six threes, and logged 10 assists during a 110-107 win against the Seattle Storm, becoming the first player in league history to have 40+ points and 10+ assists in a single game.
Notably, that game came soon after Clark had returned from a back injury. She suffered the setback against the Phoenix Mercury on June 24, when she had to leave the game early because of discomfort. She missed several games before returning to action against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 8.
She was still under a minutes restriction and had managed just 9, 12, and 13 points in her first three games back, making what came next even more striking. Now, since that game against the Storm, Clark has averaged 26.1 points, 9.5 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 17 games, per StatMuse.
Despite a season far from stable, Caitlin Clark has remained one of the league’s most productive players. East’s words ultimately capture the shift she went through better than anything else, because after an uneven start, Clark has started to look like “the best guard alive at the moment.”