Caitlin Clark Emerging as Clear Favorite for WNBA Rookie of the Year
Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark is pulling ahead in the WNBA Rookie of the Year race, dominating key stats and leading sportsbooks to list her as the overwhelming favorite.
Bollywood Fever: As the WNBA season progresses beyond the Olympic break, the Rookie of the Year (ROTY) race, once a close contest between Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, is now tilting heavily in Clark’s favor.
In fact, many major sportsbooks, including FanDuel, DraftKings, and ESPN Bet, have removed the option to bet on Clark winning ROTY, reflecting the widespread belief that the award is all but hers.
One of the few remaining sportsbooks offering ROTY bets, BetMGM, currently lists Clark as the overwhelming favorite with odds of -5,000, giving her an implied probability of 98.04% to win the award.
Angel Reese, her closest competitor, is listed with +1,500 odds, indicating a significant gap between the two rookies.
Clark’s dominance is evident in her statistical performance this season. She leads Reese in almost every major category, including points per game (17.9 vs. 13.5), assists per game (8.3 vs. 1.8), steals (1.4 vs. 1.3), field-goal percentage (41.4% vs. 38.7%), 3-point percentage (32.9% vs. 18.2%), and free-throw percentage (89.7% vs. 74%). While Reese has the edge in rebounds per game (12.9 vs. 5.7), it hasn’t been enough to close the overall gap.
In head-to-head matchups, Clark’s Fever holds a 2-1 advantage over Reese’s Sky. Clark has outperformed Reese in points (55 to 44), assists (28 to seven), and steals (five to three), while Reese has dominated in rebounding (42 to 22).
Historically, the WNBA Rookie of the Year award often goes to the top overall draft pick, with 11 of the last 16 winners holding that distinction, including the most recent two — Indiana’s Aliyah Boston and Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard.
While betting on Clark to win Rookie of the Year is becoming increasingly rare, bettors still have the option to wager on her for MVP. Clark is listed with the third-best odds at most sportsbooks, trailing behind Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier.
DraftKings and FanDuel both list Clark at +6,000 odds, while BetMGM offers her at +8,000 odds.
Reese, on the other hand, is not considered a major MVP contender, with BetMGM giving her +50,000 odds.
As the WNBA season continues, all eyes will be on Caitlin Clark as she looks to solidify her position as the league’s top rookie and potentially make a run for MVP honors.
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