Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark

Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark will be among the invitees to the WNBA draft on Monday, April 15, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York. She is widely expected to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever.

On Saturday, Clark, with an On3 NIL valuation of $3.4 million, posted a picture of a private jet on a runway headed to New York for the WNBA draft.

“Draft weekend!!!!! Nyc soon,” she wrote in her Instagram story.

The Caitlin Clark hype train is headed to the WNBA

The Caitlin Clark effect has been all-pervasive in college basketball the past few seasons, as the Iowa Hawkeyes star has become the de facto face of college basketball, both men’s and women’s.

The hype train that the popular Clark comes with seems to be heading to the WNBA in a big way even before she has been picked in the draft.

According to a report by Vivid Seats, tickets for Indiana Fever’s season-opening road game against the Connecticut Sun have seen a 91% price increase, while home opener tickets against the New York Liberty have seen a 50% price hike.

Online ticket reseller StubHub has reported that its ticket sales for Indiana Fever games are 13 times higher than at this point last year with fans anticipating the arrival of the Iowa star.

Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi, on an episode of ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” predicted that Caitlin Clark would get a harsh introduction into the league playing alongside her fellow professionals.

“Look, SVP. Reality is coming,” Taurasi said.

“We all went through it. That happens on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side. You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come with some grown women who have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”

The “SportsCenter” crew, including Diana Taurasi and WNBA legend Sue Bird, spoke about their experiences as prospects who came into the league with a lot of hype and got a reality check from the veterans already embedded in the league.

Clark will likely be tested several times due to the sheer media coverage and fan adoration that she has gotten, along with the fact that she is one of the biggest beneficiaries of NIL while WNBA players struggle to make ends meet.

However, as Caitlin Clark adapts to the WNBA, she will be one of the most scrutinized rookies due to the hype that she arrives with from women’s college basketball.