The 2026 WNBA regular season is less than a week away, and one new ranking placed Caitlin Clark in its top 10 players in the league.
A panel of four women’s basketball reporters at ESPN released a list of the top 50 players heading into the 2026 season on April 30. The rankings exclude rookies and unsigned players but include injured players expected to return within the first two months of the season.
So, where did Clark come in at? Here’s what to know.
Caitlin Clark is a top 10 WNBA player, per ESPN
ESPN rated the former Iowa women’s basketball star the 10th-best player in the WNBA heading into the 2026 season. Clark was one of three Indiana Fever players to make the list, joining Aliyah Boston (No. 14) and Kelsey Mitchell (No. 11).
Here’s what ESPN’s Kareem Copeland wrote about Clark.
“Clark received the fourth-most MVP votes as a rookie while setting a single-season league record for assists and posting the second-most 3-point field goals in a season. She became one of the league’s best passers and long-range shooters the moment she stepped onto a WNBA court, and was just getting started when she was named Rookie of the Year and first-team all-WNBA in 2024. Injuries limited her to only 13 games in 2025, but she was still named an All-Star.”
ESPN rated Clark the No. 4 player heading into the 2025 season after taking home a series of awards in 2024 and clinching Indiana’s first postseason appearance since 2016. Clark played just 13 games in 2025 after enduring a series of lower-body injuries. Indiana went 24-20 last season and lost 2-3 to the Aces in the semifinals.
Clark returned to competitive basketball with Team USA during the FIBA World Cup qualifier in March and is back to 100% heading into Indiana’s season opener on May 9 against the Dallas Wings.
Who are the 10 best WNBA players?
Here are ESPN’s top 10 WNBA players ahead of the 2026 season.
Indiana Fever 2026 WNBA regular season schedule
Here is the Fever’s regular season schedule. The WNBA season will pause for a 17-day break for the FIBA World Cup in September.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Caitlin Clark lands in ESPN’s top 10 WNBA players list
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
