This season, Caitlin Clark has held a coach’s clipboard almost as often as she has held a basketball. Ever since Sandy Brondello jokingly handed her the ‘coaching hat’ during All-Star Weekend, Caitlin Clark hasn’t given it back. And she might have even picked up a lesson or two from her sideline “coaching” gigs. As Sue Bird asked on Bird’s Eye with Sue Bird, “We’ve all seen you on the sidelines, coaching…”

“It’s so much easier said than done,” Clark admitted. “When you’re actually in the heat of things… the coaches give us so much grace and you have to give your teammates grace, too. They’re trying to manage so much and see so many different things at one time.” And she’s speaking from experience, because even after Indiana’s 92-70 win over Chicago, she was still clutching a scribbled-on clipboard full of plays.

But one moment in that win showed that while Clark respects how tough her coach’s job is, she’s not done having some fun with it.

With just 3:24 left in the fourth, Indiana leading 84-64, the refs granted Stephanie White a timeout. It happened right as Damiris Dantas was loading up for a heat-check three. “Indiana felt they got robbed,” the broadcaster said. Truly, they did… and no right groin injury was stopping Clark from jumping to her feet, hands cupped, booing the call in perfect sync.

This time, she did not aim it at the refs either. Instead, she followed around HC Stephanie White. Caitlin Clark was grinning like she was in on the world’s funniest inside joke, and she made sure both her coach and the crowd knew exactly how she felt. Funnily enough, it’s not even the first time she’s pulled something like this. Earlier in the season, when she had missed just nine games (a modest total compared to her current 20 absences), she cracked up the bench during a game against the Aces.

Stephanie White had shouted something toward the Fever bench, and Caitlin Clark responded with a side-eye smirk that had fans talking on social media. Back then, she looked more amused with her coach’s decision; this time, maybe not so much. Either way, both moments ended the same way, with Caitlin Clark laughing. And why not? Even though sidelined, she’s after all, exactly where she always wanted to be…

Why Caitlin Clark Chose Indiana…

After the Indiana Fever won lottery, they drafted Caitlin Clark as the No. 1 pick in the 2024. The Fever had the highest odds at 44.2%, with the Mercury at 27.6% and the Sparks at 17.8%. They were extremely elated to be in a position to pick Clark, and, the feeling was mutual. On Bird’s Eye View with Sue Bird, Clark confessed there was one scenario she hoped to avoid:

“I didn’t want to go to LA, but I wanted Indiana to get the first pick,” she said. “I think Indiana was a good spot for me to start my professional career.” When Bird asked why, Clark pointed to the Fever’s core of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, and Lexie Hull. “I’m a Midwest gal,” she added. “I think the franchise was in a place of having the type of core players that could help make me successful, too… So I knew for a while, and I didn’t really tell anyone.”

She never explicitly said why she didn’t want the Sparks, but their roster told the story. LA had gone 17-23 in 2023, with Nneka Ogwumike as their only All-Star. Unfortunately, even she left for Seattle before the draft. That left the Sparks with Dearica Hamby, Odyssey Sims, Azura Stevens, and even Aari McDonald (who now plays with Clark in Indiana). Hamby later became an All-Star and made Team USA’s 3×3 squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, it wasn’t enough to change Caitlin Clark’s mind.

Indiana was where she wanted to be, and whether she’s holding a clipboard or a basketball, that’s still exactly where she is.