Who shut down Caitlin Clark's Rookie of the Year celebration? Christine Brennan book tells all

May 3, 2026, 2:00 p.m. ETContrary to popular opinion, the WNBA didn’t ignore Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark’s Rookie of the Year award in 2024. The league offered to honor and celebrate Clark in several ways, according to a league spokesman quoted in the book, but those offers were turned down. After an injury-plagued 2025, Clark is back in the Fever lineup for her third WNBA regular season. The Fever open their campaign at 1 p.m. ET, May 9, with a highly anticipated home game against Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and the Dallas Wings.How Caitlin Clark's WNBA Rookie of the Year celebration was shut downEditor's note: The following passage is adapted from the paperback edition of the New York Times bestseller “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports” by Christine Brennan, releasing on May 5. Copyright 2026 by Christine Brennan. Adapted for excerpt with permission from Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, LLC.For as long as Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers are playing basketball, there will be a strong connection between them. They grew up less than a four-hour drive apart, Paige in the Minneapolis suburbs, Caitlin in the Des Moines suburbs. They’re also almost