Caitlin Clark To 'Play Free' In Final Iowa Regular Season Home Game Sunday

There could have been a nationally televised announcement on ESPN or FOX or ABC or Peacock on Thursday:

"CAITLIN CLARK DECISION - 2024."

That's what NBA legend LeBron James did on July 8, 2010, on ESPN when he announced he would sign as a free agent with Miami and leave Cleveland after seven seasons in a 75-minute mostly yawner.

Caitlin Clark instead just tweeted on X Thursday afternoon that she would be skipping her COVID extra season in 2024-25 at Iowa and entering the 2024 WNBA Draft to be held on April 15.

And on to the next game.

That will be Sunday (1 p.m., FOX) when her No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes (25-4, 14-3 Big Ten) close the regular season at sold-out 15,500-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City against No. 2 Ohio State (25-3, 16-1 Big Ten). It will be the last home game for the fourth-year senior superstar from Des Moines, Iowa. Tickets have gone for as much as $5,200 on Vivid Seats.

Pete Maravich (left) holds the NCAA Division I career scoring record with 3,667 points in three seasons from 1967-70. Caitlin Clark has 3,650 in her fourth season. (Getty Images).

If Clark, 22, scores 18 points, she will break the NCAA career scoring record of 3,667 points held by the late Pistol Pete Maravich, who set it in three seasons at LSU from 1967-70. Many thought Clark would play in 2024-25 at Iowa, where she would continue to be one of the top Name, Image & Likeness earners in women's basketball at $910,000 presently.

She will likely make that and much more through present and new endorsement deals in the WNBA. Clark is the projected first pick of the draft by the Indiana Fever, as Caitlin-omics has taken over college basketball like a tsunami.

Now, she can focus on Senior Day (aka Caitlin Clark Day), Ohio State and Maravich on Sunday. Then, it's the Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis Wednesday through Sunday, followed by likely hosting the NCAA Tournament, and perhaps a return to the Final Four in Cleveland, April 5-7.

Caitlin Clark Felt It In Her Gut To Go Pro

"I would say, I've gone, honestly, back and forth a little bit, especially early in the year," Clark said Friday at a press conference. "As the season played out, it became more clear to me. I definitely just kind of feel in my gut and know in my gut." 

The stress of The Decision is off, as if that ever bothered her. She just scored 33 points with 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 108-60 win at Minnesota last Wednesday. Clark broke the pre-NCAA women's scoring record of 3,649 points that night, which Kansas' Lynette Woodard set from 1977-81. She leads the nation in scoring (32.2 points a game), assists (8.7 a game), 3-pointers (5.38 a game) and triple-doubles (6). And she averages 7.4 rebounds a game.       

"I think any time you make a big decision, and you're confident in it, that's just kind of what happens," Clark said of putting the decision behind her. "It's just smile, have fun, play free. That's my biggest focus going into the rest of the year."

Iowa's Caitlin Clark hugs her mother Anne after one of Clark's record-setting games this season. (Getty Images).

Clark is already learning the art of balance.

"There can definitely be points where it's overwhelming," Clark said in a recent interview about the stardom she achieved this season. "I think I'm going to have to plan my career, where I'm really good at compartmentalizing."

In the meantime, it's the salad days of college.

"So, I think it's just enjoying every single second," she said.