Caitlin Clark is somehow underrated going into the 2026 WNBA season

As hard as it is to believe, Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark will somehow enter the 2026 WNBA season as somewhat of an underdog. Now, that's not "underdog" in the traditional sense. Clark is still widely regarded as one of the best players in the WNBA and the roaring engine that still drives so much of the post-2024 attention the league has received.

However, her injury-plagued 2025 has dinged her public reputation a bit on the court, at least with a few recent rankings and a league-wide general manager survey. ESPN dubbed Clark as only the 10th-best player in the WNBA in a 2026 player power ranking, and The Athletic only put Clark on their All-WNBA preseason second team . The league's GMs gave her some votes as a possible MVP candidate in their preseason poll, but Dallas Wings superstar guard Paige Bueckers was named the clear favorite as the player you'd most like to sign if you just started a new WNBA franchise.

Clark was tied in that superlative with Las Vegas Aces superstar A'ja Wilson. She was named the league's second-best point guard and passer behind Las Vegas Aces superstar Chelsea Gray. Clark didn't receive any votes in that poll as the player you'd most want to take the game-winning shot for your team, which is objectively kind of silly when you consider what a generational shot-maker Clark is on the court.

Bueckers ranked higher on that ESPN poll than Clark did at eighth, and she was named to The Athletic 's Alll-WNBA preseason first team. The recency bias is real for Bueckers' excellent rookie campaign, but it's also easy to forget what an electric debut Clark had in her first season and what she's still more than capable of when she's healthy. Again, a year ago, there was no world where people were sleeping on Clark and the Indiana Fever.